Devil May Cry
by Paladin's Throne
Summary: When a mysterious she-demon who bears a haunting resemblance to his long dead mother attacks him in his shop, Dante learns of the impending return of his father's greatest enemy, the prince of darkness, Mundus. With his father's sword, Dante travels with the demoness to Mallet Island, to finish what his father began...Let's rock, baby! A novelization of the original Devil May Cry.
1. Prologue

_**Devil May Cry.**_

_Prologue: Legendary Warrior._

* * *

_Flames._

_Arcing fires of orange and yellow consumed the land._

_Burning all in their way, without prejudice._

_Destruction, power, rage and fury incarnate._

_But…_

_Standing among the flames…_

_A darkened warrior…_

_Whose eyes burned a dark red._

* * *

_**Two milleniums ago…**_

_**There was a war between the Human World…and the other…**_

_**The Underworld.**_

* * *

_The warrior's arm reached over his shoulder…_

_And held easily in his hand was a monstrous blade, as long and as wide as his own form, its single curved blade glinting in the flames around the warrior._

* * *

_**But…**_

_**Someone from the Underworld woke up to Justice.**_

_**And stood up against this legion…**_

_**Alone.**_

* * *

_The warrior's blade swung through the flames, striking down unseen adversary after adversary._

_When these had fallen to his blade, he leapt through the fires, leg extended and where he landed, he began again, never stopping, never pausing, never relenting in his single struggle._

* * *

_**His name…**_

_**Was Sparda.**_

* * *

_His sword never stopped, his fury never died._

_The fire was nothing to his power._

_And no one who stood before him equaled him._

_All who stood between him and his goal of justice…_

_Fell._

_Until…_

_The Underworld __retreated__**.**_

* * *

_**Later, he quietly reigned the Human World…**_

_**And continued to preserve harmony…**_

_**Until his death.**_

* * *

_Finally, eventually, inevitably…_

_His onslaught stopped._

_The warrior stood alone among the flames._

* * *

_**He became a legend.**_

_**The legendary dark knight…**_

_**Sparda.**_

* * *

_The warrior raised his arms and tipped his head back, red eyes blazing with victory._

* * *

Lightning flashed and thunder crashed in the dark sky looming above the rusted, dank and dirty alleyways.

Yet no rain fell.

For there was not a single cloud in the black sky above…

Revealing the moon…

That glowed not gold, or even blue…

But red.

The bloody moon overlook the city under it, its corrupted light doing little to illuminate the shadows that filled it.

Suddenly…

A figure fell from the moon.

A woman, sailing smoothly through the darkness above.

She landed in the empty streets, dust kicking up in a perfect circle around her from the impact.

She rose slowly, smoothly, her eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses.

She looked over shoulder, to a single building only a few hundred feet away, its windows glowing a faint yellow.

A small shop, a red motorcycle parked on the street before.

The glowing red neon sign displayed a woman brandishing a pair of handguns and the shop's name.

The name of the shop was…

_Devil May Cry._

* * *

The phone rang three times before he slammed his boot down onto the table, knocking the device off its hook and into the air, where it descended smoothly into his gloved hand.

He raised the phone to his ear and answered, "Devil May Cry?"

"Yeah I'll have a large cheese and pepperoni, no olives-"

"Sorry, we closed at nine."

He tossed the phone back onto its hook without waiting for a reply.

Well, it wasn't as bad as that time they asked for a plumber, he considered.

"Again no password. Can't seem to get any real business…" He mused to himself, pale, icy-blue eyes observing his office's interior.

It was a simple, yet cozy joint. Wooden walls, a pool table with the balls scattered over it, a stick lying idle. His drums on the other side of the room, a curious purple guitar lying idle, though earlier when the thunder and lightning had crashed and flashed, the strings had seemingly flashed and crackled with a little electricity of their own.

He was currently at his desk, boots propped on the beaten surface, an empty pizza box on the verge of falling off from the corner, Jack Daniels bottles scattered over it. Soft rock played from his speaker's hooked to the ceiling corners. He turned his gaze to his 'trophies'.

Bloody, twisted skulls of demonic beasts, impaled to the wooden walls by swords, almost a half-dozen. One was even pinned to his dart board, two darts sticking out of its empty eye sockets.

Maybe letting Enzo go had been a bad idea, he thought to himself. No jobs in weeks…He was starting to get bored.

Suddenly, the door's exploded in a spray of shattered wood and splinters, the roar of an engine drowning out his music.

He cocked a silver brow, not so much caring for the destruction of his property.

No, his eyes were on the smokin' hot chick atop the bike.

"Whoa! Slow down babe!" He called over the revving of the bike's engine. The bike went silent, and the woman climbed off it, one long leg before the other.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" He asked aloud, eying the chick from top to bottom.

Long blonde hair framed her soft face, eyes hidden behind dark shades, lips pink and full, her skin pale as marble. Thin, lithe body wrapped up tight in all black leather. A choker 'round her neck, bustier with a wicked lightning insignia revealing the vast valley between her generous cleavage, and pants hugging her hips tight, heeled black boots giving her some height. A black leather wrist band covered her left wrist while the right was bare.

Unusual, but hell, he was in no place to talk considering what he was wearing.

A red leather trenchcoat with a raised collar, black leather gloves, a red vest over his black long sleeved shirt, brick red leather pants and black boots. If you had to do the jobs he did, you needed to look stylish while doing it.

Now what would possess this babe to come bursting through his door, he wondered.

A customer? Probably not.

"Nature calls?" He asked. He jerked a gloved hand over his shoulder. "It's in the back."

The blonde looked the joint over, hidden eyes taking it all in.

"So," she finally spoke, approaching his desk. Her voice was soft, yet lacked emotion. She looked down on him as she continued.

"You must be the handyman who'll take any dirty job, am I correct?"

Well, well, once again. The password. This night was full of surprises.

He stood up, the tail of his red leather trenchcoat falling just above his ankles.

"Almost," He replied, walking towards the poster of the topless babe, her left eye hidden by an eye-patch, her rack hidden under the broadsword he had hanging over her, his left hand reaching out to grasp the skull bottomed hilt of the sword, removing the blade and giving it a twirl, blade switching from his left hand to his right hand in a single motion.

"I only take…special jobs," he explained.

He moved in front of his desk, just a little ways from the babe.

"If you know what I mean," He finished with a smirk.

He had a strong feeling she knew exactly what he was talking about.

The babe's hidden eyes locked with his pale ones.

"You're the man who lost a mother and a brother to evil twenty years ago. The son of the legendary dark knight, Sparda…Mr. Dante."

Dante cocked a brow once again. So, she knew all about him, huh? Well, he wanted to get to know her a little better…

His grip on his father's sword, Force Edge, tightened a little.

Just holding the sword reminded him she didn't have the story as straight as she thought.

A mother, yes…

The brother…

That was a whole other story.

And one hell of a party…

"Well, the way I figure it," He started, slowly approaching the woman and twirling his sword once again.

"In this business a lot of your kind come along…"

He raised his blade to her throat.

"And if I kill each one that comes, eventually I should hit the jackpot sooner or later."

Babe or not, Dante knew what she really was.

To her credit, she was unfazed by the sword at her throat.

"In that case…you should be used to this sorta thing," she replied coolly, her right hand rising slowly up…

And crackling with yellow sparks.

Before Dante had time to react, she struck with the speed of a viper, her hand latching onto the blade-

And sending hundreds of volts of electricity straight into him.

Dante bellowed in agony, his whole body lighting up like a Christmas tree, torrents of electricity coursing through his body. The blonde twisted her lithe form in a sudden jump, her hand still on his blade and ripping it free from his grasp at the same time her booted heel slammed into his jaw in a roundhouse kick with some lighting added to spice things up. Dante reeled back, his entire body tingling, nerves afire with fading pain-

Blood erupted in his mouth as the woman slammed her knee into his jaw with such force he was knocked off his feet and flat onto his desk, which cracked in half from the sudden drop of his entire weight on it. He grunted, wood crumbling, dust kicking up. But the fun was far from over.

The crazy blonde caught his sword as it fell, and flipped it, holding it like a spear, her hand glowing with lightning that travelled through the blade, charging it up. With a furious cry, she threw the blade straight at Dante, impaling him through the chest, blood splattering all over the ruined desk and floor. Dante cried out in fresh agony of not just the blade piercing him, missing his heart by mere centimeters, but the continuous feed of electricity from the woman, her hand extended, streams of yellow lightning coursing into the blade from her hand.

Dante could only groan in agony while the woman laughed, her flat, toneless voice now filled with malice and cruel mirth.

"Are you really the son of the legendary dark knight, Sparda?!" She demanded over the lightning and Dante's groans. "Didn't your daddy teach you how to use a sword?" She taunted, still pouring lightning into the blade, a continuous feed of pain.

Her head suddenly snapped towards her bike, and the lightning stopped emitting from her hand, though several volts still crackled over Dante's twitching body.

The blonde lunged towards her bike, grabbing it by the front and exhaust, and with strength no woman her size could ever possess, she lifted it over her head with a grunt and tossed it towards the stunned devil hunter.

Ok, show's over.

"Sword?" Chuckled Dante, all pretense of pain gone, his gloved hands spinning one nickel plated handgun and another as black as obsidian. Both had the same golden engravings on them, the right for the white and the left side for the black: "Ebony & Ivory" And on the other side: "_For Tony Redgrave. Nell Goldstein_."

She had been one hell of a woman, Nell.

He snapped them straight and shouted, "Time to go work guys!" Just as the bike was almost upon him, it stopped in midair. A red aura flickered off Dante's body like flames. He opened fire, fingers pulling on the triggers so fast the handguns fired like machineguns.

The bike was pushed back in midair, juggled in the air, multiple holes appearing all over it, fuel leaking out.

And igniting.

The lightning manipulating blonde's eyes widened behind her shades while a fierce grin appeared on Dante's face.

"NO!" She cried, turning and leaping, ducking just in time as the flaming motorcycle flew over her, hitting the shattered doorframe and exploding, flaming metal, glass, wood and plastic flying all over the place.

With a sharp inhale, the woman turned and looked up, eyes widening again as Dante calmly walked towards her, guns in hand, his father's blade still impaled through his chest.

Gone was the friendly demeanor.

He didn't mind getting shot down, but getting impaled and having his office blown up was enough to seriously irk him…

She had no idea of the crap he had gone through just to think up a name for this place.

"Even as a child I had powers," He stated coldly. It would take more than some sparks and a blade through the chest to take him out, as he had learned. "There's demonic blood in me," He explained, devils blood purer than the filth he slayed, the monsters that haunted the night and the dreams of man.

The woman backed up, still on the floor in a daze.

"What strength…" she whispered in awe. Her attacks had hardly fazed him, she realized in horror.

Holstering Ebony, Dante easily ripped the Force Edge from his chest, a small splatter of blood hitting the floor, followed by the blade itself as Dante jammed it there. There was no wound left in his chest, as if there had never been one to begin with.

"You were the first one to know about my avengeance…" Dante stated, aiming Ivory between the woman, no, the demoness's hidden eyes.

He pulled the hammer back.

"Looks like I'm getting closer…"

For a moment, there was only a tense silence as Dante stood his ground, trigger on the finger.

Finally, the she-demon spoke again.

"It seems that way," she confirmed, slowly rising back onto her feet, Ivory following her. "But I'm not your enemy," she declared to Dante, who only raised his brow once again.

His ruined office begged to differ.

"My name is Trish," the she-demon revealed, daring to turn her back on the devil hunter. He was tempted to put several bullets in the back of her head, but paused when she added, "I came here to seek your help…to put an end to the Underworld."

Dante's eyes widened. He cocked his head, though Ivory did not waver. "What?" He asked, astonished. Put an end to the Underworld?

How was that even possible?

The she-demon didn't respond.

Instead, with her back still to Dante, she raised her right hand to her face, removing her shades at last, before turning to face the devil hunter.

Her eyes were an electric blue most fitting…

Dante's eyes widened and he gasped under his breath.

Her face…

He knew that face anywhere…

Lying by the broken desk in a pile of shattered glass…

Was a picture in a broken frame, of a young woman dressed in a red dress…

Her young face framed with blonde tresses, pink lips curved in a smile, electric blue eyes filled with happiness.

This Trish woman looked exactly like his mother, whose burning flame had ended when she chose her son's life over her own.

Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled ominously.

Dante stared at Trish, Ivory still leveled at her all too familiar face…

Then, he twirled the pistol before holstering it under his coat.

"Alright, you have my attention," The devil hunter stated, taking a single step closer to her.

Trish stood her ground, though she visibly relaxed once the gun was no longer aimed at her.

"Sounds like a pretty big job," Dante went on. "How am I supposed to put an end to the entire Underworld? I may be the best around…but I'm still just one man."

Well, technically half a man, but… details.

Trish stared at Dante for a moment, her expression unreadable. Then she finally spoke again.

"Twenty years ago…Mundus, the emperor of the Underworld resurrected."

Dante blinked. "Mundus?" He echoed. He was vaguely familiar with that name…and then he remembered.

Mundus had been the devil leading the armies of the Underworld to the Human World in a bid for conquest to expand his empire and bring Hell to earth.

His father, Sparda, had been his closest general…before betraying him, and single-handedly driving his armies back to Hell and defeating the Prince of Darkness himself.

Trish nodded. "Yes! His powers were sealed by Sparda! But now he's attempting to gain control of the Human World once again…" She looked at Dante pleadingly, but the devil hunter's expression was unreadable.

So she went on. "He has been preparing to open a Hell Gate on…Mallet Island." With that, Trish started past the rubble and flames of his office and stood by the burning doorframe. She looked back at Dante.

"I can show you how to get to Mallet Island. If you can defeat Mundus, re-seal him in the bowels of Hell…Then the Underworld will have been defeated."

Sounded like a plan…

Dante wasn't so eager to follow, however.

"Why do you care?" He asked. "You're a demon," He went on. "Shouldn't you be supporting Mundus' campaign?"

Trish sighed, her head bowing a little, long locks falling over her face.

"Not all demons hate your father…some feel he was right…Please. As Sparda's son, you're the only one who has a chance of stopping Mundus again!" She looked pleadingly at Dante.

The red-clad devil hunter stared at her a moment, his icy eyes looking over her face, tracing every painfully familiar line and curve…

He could feel the weight of his mother's amulet around his neck.

He reached down and ripped Force Edge free from the floor and slid it across his back, where it stuck like glue. He glanced over his shoulder, towards a door to a back room where the rest of his 'toys' were, trinkets he had acquired almost a decade ago on his journey through the tower of hell…

But his dad's blade should be more than enough.

It had beaten Mundus once before…

It could do it again.

Dante moved after Trish, boldly stepping through the flames, and into the night outside.

He looked back at Trish and gestured ahead.

"Lead the way babe."

The lightning she-demon smiled in relief and moved ahead of the devil hunter and into the street, who followed after her only a few steps behind.

Mallet Island, huh? Dante thought to himself. He smirked, feeling his blood begin to burn with anticipation.

Time to crash Mundus' party.

* * *

And take two.

Repost of my DMC1 novel.

This time, I'm leaving it up.

It will be a complete novelization of the game, including all puzzles and dialogue...though a little more on the latter since Dante doesn't talk that much in this one. Though he's not a mute in this one, unlike DMC2.

Drop a review and tell me what you think, faithful readers.


	2. Chapter 1

_**Devil May Cry.**_

_Mission One: Curse of the Bloody Puppets._

_Break the evil spell and open the cursed door.  
_

* * *

Waves crashed below, smoothing the rocky, algae covered walls.

Salt filtered the air.

Crows and vultures fluttered about above, not a single seagull around.

The island was flat as a pancake, dead trees surrounding yellowing grass. A crumbling castle, straight out of the medieval tales of King Arthur loomed over the island, the highest tower blocking the setting sun, casting an eerie twilight across the flat land.

Mallet Island…

_What a shithole_, Dante thought.

He and Trish had travelled all night and well into the morning on a speeding boat into the middle of nowhere across the ocean. Halfway into their journey, Dante had asked why they just couldn't have taken a plane. He had dabbled with planes in the past, and was eager to try his skills ta flying one…

"Mallet Island changes places every night…It's too close to the Underworld, and the dark powers of Hell cause its position to change, reappearing anywhere and everywhere…" Trish explained in monotone, electric blue eyes locked dead ahead on the flat island.

Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer, Dante concluded, Trish's flat voice boring him almost as much as the explanation. Great body, not much of a personality, aside from apparently getting off on frying him alive…

Too bad he wasn't into that.

That had been then…

This was now.

The red clad devil hunter and the lightning she-demon stood in front of a large set of ornate wooden double-doors with a snarling demon's face etched onto it in metal, the doors at the end of a crumbling stone pathway. A rusted padlock and chain bound the doors, dangling right in the beast's jaw, a sign that said clearly: Keep Out.

Dante glanced at Trish, but the blonde only returned his gaze blankly. He sighed, shrugging,

"Glad I brought my own key then," He murmured, right hand reaching over his shoulder, fingers wrapping around the familiar hilt of Force Edge. Gripping the blade with both hands, Dante raised it high-

And brought it down hard, slicing cleanly through the lock and chain like a hot knife through butter.

With a thunderous clang, the doors swung wide open, revealing the rest of the path, straight ahead to the castle.

Dante rose from his slash, Force Edge still in hand. He and Trish walked a little ways ahead. Dante glared with icy eyes up at the castle.

Mundus' stronghold…

Trish walked a little ways ahead of him, her head craned back, her own eyes on the cliffs above them.

"The castle is above this cliff," she said. She waved without even looking at Dante and said, "Come on, let's go!" And with a soft grunt, leapt almost a hundred feet and vanished over the cliffs. Dante cocked a brow, resting his blade across his shoulder.

The direct way, huh?

He didn't even bother to look over his shoulder when he heard an ominous rumble, and felt a sudden rush of air followed by a loud 'thoom' of the doors he had just sliced open closing on their own.

No going back then…

He glanced down the rest of the pathway.

He had always been more of a scenic guy himself…

With that, he sheathed Force Edge across his back and drew Ebony and Ivory before sprinting along the path, straight through and under a shattered stone archway, two torches burning inside it, adding to the faint light. Dante spotted a small tower keep ahead, just up some stairs past a statue of woman, her hands upturned in an empty offer. Dante ignored the statue and dashed up the steps, slowing as he approached the keep.

_Ah, what the hell._

Dante crouched and jumped, landing on the stone surface and using it as a boost to complete his jump, landing on the rail. He walked into the small tower, looking around. While he could see the vast ocean and the almost the whole island from this vantage point, there was nothing of interest to him here and he quickly leapt over the side and back onto the pathway bellow.

He resumed his sprint up the stairs, passing under a white flag with a blue insignia he didn't recognize. Just up ahead, a hole in the side of the castle. Dante grinned.

The scenic route always had the most interesting sights.

Ebony and Ivory in hand, fingers on the triggers, Dante dashed through the hole and into the castle.

* * *

The devil hunter boldly stepped into the castle, eyes scanning the room. He was in the main foyer and-

Rubble shifted behind him, causing Dante to whirl around in surprise. He watched in stunned silence as a chunk of stone shaped exactly like the hole he had just walked through slid up to fill the gap seamlessly. The hole was gone in seconds, leaving Dante trapped inside the castle, already trapped on an island that was becoming a gate to Hell.

Chuckling, Dante shook his head.

Things were starting to get interesting…

Turning away from his vanished entrance, Dante surveyed the castle foyer. Couldn't tell much from where he was with a huge stone staircase lined with a plush red carpet, blocking his view. Moving quickly past it and into the main area, Dante noted all the pillars and archways, along with the second floor above. The foyer was dimly lit, various candles and torches scattered about, the chandeliers above not helping much.

Huge pillars supported the ceiling, between them, a statue of a warrior atop his steed, lance held high.

But that was nothing compared to what overlooked the foyer just above the staircase.

Dante cocked a brow, balancing Ivory over his shoulder as he slowly walked up the steps.

It was a huge marble statue of an angelic youth, cloaked only in a toga and chiton, great wings extended, his left hand held out, a ball of blue fire burning in his palm. Dante frowned, stepping closer, really peering at the statue. He hadn't met a lot of angels…

But he was pretty sure they didn't have three eyes.

The devil hunter eyed the angel statue for a moment longer. A god they worshipped? He wondered.

Then he turned and moved up the right steps (As the left steps were shattered to stone bits) and explored the second floor balcony. Wasn't much to see, except some shattered ceiling from a third balcony above. Bored, Dante leapt off the second floor without so much a grunt upon impact. He looked around the foyer again.

He grinned when he saw two sets of double doors. The doors on his left were blue with intricate gold markings, while the door straight ahead was red.

_Eeny, meeny, miney_…

"Moe," Dante finished aloud, pointing Ivory at the red doors ahead.

Moving forward, he pushed the doors open easily and stepping inside.

_Well, this is a change_, Dante thought, observing the dungeon he found himself in.

A huge set of bars barred him from the rest of the room, some suits of armor lined up on the right side of the room, another set of double doors directly across from them, these plain wood. Briefly glancing at the iron bars, Dante contemplated hacking his way through with Force Edge…

But that sounded like too much work.

With that thought in mind, he quickly moved towards the door and pushed them open, stepping into the next room.

He must have arrived into one of the towers, because the room was all brick and stone, a stool, table with some plates and candelabra and bookshelf scattered about, along with several weapons ranging from daggers to halberds. Dante spotted a lone window, and saw the twilight outside, dead tree branches scratching against the window as the wind raged outside. Bored, Dante spotted a passageway and moved into it, finding another staircase rising in a spiral.

_Well, at least I'm getting my cardio…_

Moving quickly, Dante took the steps two at a time, torch light on the walls guiding him up…

And into another blockade.

Groaning in annoyance, Dante moved through the only available exit, stepping into a new room. It was another storeroom like the one in the floor below…

Though a lot messier.

Shattered suits of armor and more weapons…

And what looked like a giant puppet.

Frowning, Dante stepped closer, kicking the slumped doll over with his boot.

It looked like a scarecrow dressed in a blue tunic and an orange curved fedora. The doll's face was a blank white mask that stared back at Dante with empty slits for eyes. Disturbing, to say the least.

Dante looked away from the crumbled doll towards a pile of rubble atop a wooden crate. Craning his head back, the devil hunter spotted a hole above. Dante looked back over his shoulder, spotting another set of doors to his right, these brown.

More doors, or a quick jump above?

He smirked.

Like he was really going to think it over.

Crouching, Dante leapt onto the crate, then did a quick second leap, kicking off the wall to get up onto the floor above. Turning around, he looked over the new room. Exactly like the two below it…

But with more books.

Two shelves filled with dozens on dozens of dusty old tomes and a desk filling the whole corner in the back. Dante spotted the passageway, blocked off by rubble just like the one below it. And another marionette.

Though this one was propped up against the wall, legs and left arm hanging limply by strings attached to the ceiling. And this one was wearing a blood red tunic, a feather in its orange cap, and cocked at an angle that hid its masked face from sight. Its right arm was held out a little ways…

With a rusty key lying in its palm.

Dante cocked a brow at this.

Well, this wasn't suspicious or anything.

Walking up to the marionette, Dante kept Ivory leveled at its hidden face. After a second he poked it, and the head just rolled a little. Shrugging, Dante holstered Ebony and grabbed the key, dangling from his index finger by its ring. He chuckled and glanced at the lifeless doll, twirling the key. "Thanks for the present," he said, turning away from the puppet and moving towards the hole in the floor-

Dante pulled back when he heard a sudden rush of air, and saw a knife embedded itself in the green spine of one of the many books on the shelf. Cocking a brow, smirking and wagging Ivory, Dante turned around, unsurprised to see the marionette with its left arm outstretched. The marionette staggered forward, wooden joints clanking, standing upright as it did, its masked face revealed at last, a screaming face with blood red eyes that bore right into Dante's blue, more knives appearing in its hands.

The devil hunter didn't even bother to turn around when he heard more wooden clanking and a soft thud of fake feet hitting the stone floor from behind him.

"Well, this just became a little more fun," Mused Dante to himself.

He had been getting bored with the idea of just wandering this dark castle…

These things might be the action he was looking for.

The red tunic wearing marionette suddenly raised both arms, daggers in hand, and flung them at Dante. The devil hunter thrust his arms out, muzzles on Ebony and Ivory flashing twice, four bullets deflecting the daggers before they even made it half-way to Dante. Spinning his boys and holstering them with a flourish, Dante grabbed Force Edge's hilt and whirled around as he drew the blade, cutting the second marionette's head off in a single blow. The doll crumpled in a spray of blood that melted into purple mist, a ghastly wail rising and fading from its corpse.

Dante whirled around and blocked the red marionette's lunge, its dirty dagger meeting his sword. Dante sneered in the marionette's screaming mask. "Sorry. Finders keepers." Dante curved the blade, forcing both sharp instruments down, letting Dante thrust Ebony in the bloody puppet's face. Three rapid shots blew its face off along with a good chunk of its head.

And the thing still staggered forward.

Dante kicked it back and dashed forward, Force Edge thrust out, and he struck the marionette's chest with the flair of a scorpion's stinger. The marionette exploded, limbs scattering everywhere, blood spraying and melting into more purple mist, a scream slipping past its dying wooden lips. Dante spun Force Edge before re-sheathing it across his back. He glanced at the hole in the floor, remembering there was another marionette waiting below.

He smirked, raising Ivory.

Taking a running leap, Dante descended down the hole just as the blue tunic marionette was beginning to rise, twin curved blades appearing in its hands.

The marionette didn't have a chance to use them as Dante shot its head several times, causing it to stumble back-

And let Dante slam his boots into its chest, knocking it flat on its back.

"Let's take a ride down a slide!" Dante shouted, pushing his boot against the stone floor and propelling himself and the marionette down the stairs in the spiral staircase. Dante laughed gleefully with every bump and twist, while the marionette under him jerked and twisted futilely.

When they arrived at the bottom of the steps and into the storeroom, Dante chuckled, spinning Ivory. "Have fun, buddy?" He asked, slowly walking off the thing's body, ignoring the feel of its head as it gave way under his boot with a loud 'squish'.

"Guess not."

The devil hunter stopped just from the door, spinning Ivory and glancing back up at the stairs. He had forgotten about the doors back up there. Scratching the side of his head with the barrel of his handgun, he looked towards the closer doors.

_Meh, I don't feel like walking back up there._

With that he moved through the doors and back through the small dungeon, and from there back into the castle foyer. Dante glanced back up at the angelic statue before looking to his right, towards the blue double doors. He hadn't tried those yet.

Walking over to them, Dante tried the handle, yet the doors did not give. Dante smirked, pulling his hand back and twirling the rusty key.

"Open says me," Dante declared, sliding the key into the lock and twisting.

He heard the lock give with a 'click'.

And felt the key snap.

Blinking, Dante held the broken end up, eying it curiously.

Then he tossed it aside and pushed the doors open.

As soon as he stepped in, he whistled, impressed.

The room was a large stone storeroom, more weapons piled up in a corner, and seemingly lifeless marionettes hanging from the ceiling. But what had Dante's attention was the red biplane suspended on some girders dead center in the room. Thing looked pretty banged up, and probably couldn't fly, but he had to give props to whoever was trying to restore it.

Speaking of which…

Dante glanced curiously at the marionettes.

So far they had been the only 'living' things he had encountered…

But he hadn't found any bodies of the castle's inhabitants or any evidence to suggest signs of a struggle…

Or slaughter in the case of demons.

From what he had seen, this place was such a mess it looked like no one had lived in this castle for years. But he knew people had to have been living in this castle.

"So where is everybody?" Dante asked himself.

He stood there a moment…

Then he shrugged and started forward.

He wasn't here to find people, he was here to kill demons. As dark as it sounded, if there were no survivors that made his job much easier. He wouldn't have to babysit anyone while he was fighting.

A quick survey revealed a set of red doors with two marionettes carved on the surface. But when Dante tugged on the knobs, neither door gave. Yet…

He could not feel a lock…

But he did sense a faint whiff of magic.

Dante glanced up at the marionettes hanging lifelessly above.

Then he made his way into the back of the storeroom-hanger, he amended, eying the biplane with a sly grin. A small section of the hanger went further back, into a small alcove carved of blue stone, two sets of armor standing idly in it. Dante cocked a brow, seeing something just past them.

Two quick slashes of Force Edge saw the armor in pieces on the floor. And revealed what they had been guarding. A weird circular dias engraved on the wall, a red Chinese or Japanese character carved on the surface, over a dozen more lined around it in perfect symmetry.

Dante frowned, staring at the thing a moment.

Then he remembered.

"Oh, yeah, these things," He murmured.

A long time ago, in the tower rising from Hell itself, he had come across several of these 'wheels' in the tower. Though those had looked very different from this one.

"Same shit wrapped in a new package," was Dante's conclusion as he reached for Force Edge. With a sharp cry, he slashed the wheel several times, each strike igniting one of the characters on it. After several more blows, all the symbols had been ignited. The larger character flashed brightly. Dante shouldered Force Edge, turning to look back at the doors-

And then found himself watching the room get larger.

The devil hunter blinked, his vision going dark, and then he felt the air shift and realized he was descending.

The falling platform completed its descent and Dante found himself in a kind of basement, with a dirt floor and several more marionettes hanging from the ceiling. Dante walked off the platform and onto the dirt floor-

The room rumbled and Dante glanced over his shoulder, watching the platform rise into a pillar, taking his exit with him.

He grinned when he heard wood hit the dirt behind him.

"Looking to play, huh? Alright then…"

He turned and faced the rising marionettes, each producing a set of curved blades and each turning their dead eyes onto Dante. The devil hunter drew his pistols. "Not like I'm going anywhere."

With that he opened fire, his barrage of bullets pushing them back and splattering blood across the dirt, though they still stumbled forward, unfazed by the hot lead tearing them to shreds. Dante ceased his firing and holstered his guns, quickly whipping out Force Edge and lunging forward with such strength the room shook, Force Edge's tip colliding with the closest marionette and shattering it into bloody chunks of wood. Not stopping there, Dante gripped his father's sword with both hands and started hacking into the rest of the marionettes with gusto, tearing two more apart with a quick three hit combo, and then beheading the third with a sudden swing. The last brought its arms down in a sudden swing, but Dante blocked its curved blades with Force Edge, sneering as he jammed Ivory against its blades, pulling the trigger and shattering the marionette's blades with a single shot.

A second shot saw its head drastically reshaped.

Several mournful wails echoed in the empty room.

Dante observed the corpses of the marionettes, watching them vanish along with the blood in puffs of purple mist. He balanced Force Edge across his shoulders and waved Ivory over the empty room in boredom. "Is that it?" He asked, scoffing.

"Not much of a party."

As if responding to his words, the room rumbled suddenly…

And three wooden gates, one on the far wall, and two more on the left and right, rose up revealing more groups of marionettes that stumbled out and brandished their blades. Dante grinned, grip on his sword and gun tightening. "Now that's what I'm talking about…"

Sheathing Force Edge, Dante drew Ebony and crossed his arms over before opening fire on the groups to his left and right, bullets tearing through their cheap bodies and before long blowing them to pieces. With those done with, Dante drew Force Edge and lunged out in a stinger, his dash clearing the long distance between himself and the living dolls, his blade cutting through them all and shattering them to pieces instantly. Stepping back, Dante watched their corpses melt into mist, Force Edge sheathed once more, their fading cries filling the room.

He turned and looked around the basement, spotting no surviving marionettes.

Lots of numbers, no substance.

"Pushovers," He muttered.

The room rumbled again and for a moment he thought more were going to show up…

But instead he watched the pillar descend back into the floor of the alcove where he had arrived. Letting out a 'tch', the devil hunter made his way back over and stood on the platform. The room rumbled again and the platform rose back up into the hanger.

The red clad devil hunter didn't have a chance to take a single step when the three marionettes fell from the ceiling above. Scowling, Dante drew Force Edge and lunged forward in a powerful stinger, his blade piercing all three like a shiskabob and shattering them to pieces. The sounds of wooden steps alerted him to more of them, and Dante drew Ivory without even looking he opened fire, his bullets tearing through the marionette's neck, decapitating it.

Dante looked over the room, watching the corpses vanish-

Then his body went rigid, his arms jerking up, his body following. The devil hunter grunted, blinking in confusion. "The hell?" He asked, looking around. He glanced up at his arms and saw them bound by twin bloody wires. Dante's eyes narrowed, then he blinked when he heard wood on stone behind him and blades sharpening…

Scoffing, Dante rolled his eyes.

He waited a moment, and just when he was sure the marionette was right behind him, blades raised to cleave through his neck-

Dante tugged his left arm, snapping the wire easily, hand wrapping around the hilt of his sword and ripping Force edge free from his back, cleaving the second wire and freeing the devil hunter. Dante fell in a crouch, the tin blades of the marionette cutting the air scant centimeters above his head. Dante whirled around, slashing his blade once.

He rose back up, smirking at the motionless marionette, blade lowered. "Nice trick pal," Dante complimented, twirling his blade once and sheathing it smoothly across his back. As soon as it slid into place, the upper half of the marionette slid to the floor in a splatter of blood and wood striking stone.

Dante smirked down on the sightless head and torso; watching them vanish into purple mist before he said, "But you need to be quicker on your feet next time."

He chuckled before going silent as he felt a sudden rush of air and a strange hum. He turned his icy eyes towards the marionette door-

And watched a white, clawed spectral hand reach out from between the knobs before it shattered into ether.

Dante cocked a brow, slowly walking towards the doors. He walked up to them and rested his hand on the knob. This time it turned easily.

"Well onward then," He muttered under his breath.

Onward further into this dark castle…

And soon to its master.

* * *

Mission 1 completed.

Not much happened in this one, just Dante exploring the castle. It's much funner in the game, finding blue orbs and red orbs. Sadly, such items make no sense in a realistic Devil May Cry novel...well, as realistic as you can make such a novel.

No reviews, no faves, no nothing.

Jeez, really feeling the love readers.

C'mon, say something. Tell me you hate it, tell me you've read a better novel of the first game somewhere else. Tell me anything. Give me motivation to keep writing. I've got the first five missions written, motivate me to write the others.


	3. Chapter 2

_**Devil May Cry.**_

_Mission Two: Judge of Death._

_Open the door of the cathedral.  
_

* * *

Out of a hanger and into another hallway.

Dante was starting to get bored.

He was looking towards his right, further down the hallway, noting the pillars and various paintings when he heard the sound of wood crashing on stone to his left. Rolling his eyes and raising Ivory, finger on the trigger, Dante turned and spotted two marionettes rising from the floor, a third crumbled against a wall behind the other two. Without a quip, he raised Ebony as well and opened fire, muzzle flashes illuminating the dark hallway and the 'booms' of the guns almost deafening due to the close quarters. The puppets fell apart in a splatter of blood and wooden parts.

Holstering his guns, Dante drew Force Edge and walked towards the still slumbering marionette, ramming the blade through its head. The creature only had time for a single wail before it melted into blood and mist. Dante ripped his father's sword free from the wall, shouldering it and glancing at the wall before him. A painting of the castle exterior covered it.

Dante didn't get art, modern or classic.

His boredom growing, he glanced up further, and this time he raised a brow.

The statue of a roaring face sticking out above it was a little more interesting. And weird.

Looking away from the strange décor, Dante noticed a door to his right. He opened it and stepped inside. The devil hunter found himself in a small library, books on shelves, books opened and closed scattered across the few tables in the room as well, candlelight flickering from the lamps above, cobwebs covering the corners. Dante's icy blue eyes scanned the room, but he saw nothing warranting his attention. He considered smashing the tables he saw, partly to see if anything was in them, mostly because he was bored, but decided against it.

"Waste of time," He murmured, more to just break the silence than anything else.

He stepped back into the hall and made his way down the long corridor. There was a little more light the further he got, chandeliers glowing above. He passed a window, sunlight filtering into the dark hall and just as he rounded another corner more marionettes fell from the ceilings.

Dante came to a stop, watching even more fall from above, the others rising up sluggishly and brandish their daggers and blades. Dante glanced from them to a set of golden double doors on his left. He returned his gaze ahead to the marching marionettes. He drew Force Edge from over his shoulder and crouched, pulling the blade back.

In the faint light, the blade briefly flashed red, dark sparks of demonic energy crackling over the surface of it. With a furious cry, Dante flung the blade from himself, where it spun like a boomerang, cutting through the marionettes easily, bisecting them cleanly in half. Their bodies crumpled into blood and wood, their wailing death cries echoing in the small space. The devil hunter caught his blade as it rebounded, and Dante held it reversed, the blade touching the back of his elbow.

"Sorry boys," Dante said, twirling his blade and sheathing it across his back once again. "I'm not in the mood to play." With that, he approached the doors, reaching for the knob of the closest one and turning it.

And much to his annoyance, discovering it was locked. Growling, he twisted and tugged but the door would not budge. "Damn it," He muttered.

It wasn't locked by magic like the one before, or else it would have opened after the marionettes were all dead. Looks like he had to find another key. He glanced over his shoulder, back towards the way he had come.

But he was sure there had been no key in that library.

Dante turned towards the short stairs just in front of him, at the end of the hall.

Only where to go was forward.

Moving away from the locked doors, Dante took the stairs two at a time and arrived in a somewhat large corner, another set of double doors in front of him, a shaft of light descending from the ceiling above, filtered through stained glass…

And the light reflected off of something.

Turning from the doors, Dante's eyes widened when he saw what the light was reflecting off of.

Now he remembered why he didn't get art.

Before him, sculpted into the wall itself, was a woman reeling in agony, demonic imps cackling around her as she clutched a blade sticking out of her chest.

Literally.

The sword jutted out of the wall a good three feet.

Dante stepped closer, turning his eyes from the disturbing artwork to the sword itself.

It was a wicked looking blade, with a fine gold sheen across its surface, the hilt shaped like a dragon's maw, the blade emerging from the mouth itself, the crossguard shaped like reversed wings, and like Force Edge, the bottom of the pommel was a skull, though three instead of one, joined together at the back of each head.

Dante cocked a brow, standing right under the shaft of light-

And a voice whispered in his ear suddenly, carried by the air...

"_I am Alastor._"

Dante's icy eyes widened.

The sword…

That voice was coming from the sword.

Which he now knew wasn't a sword at all, but a Devil-

The voice went on.

"_The weak shall give their heart and swear their eternally loyalty to me._"

Before Dante could even comprehend what the voice of the sword had just said, the image of the agonized woman vanished, replaced with a skeleton garbed in the robes and miter of a priest, arms outstretched, the blade-Alastor-suddenly crackling with dark streams of purple electricity. The blade shifted suddenly, just an inch-

And then flung itself free from the sculpture, spinning in the air, crackling with purple lightning-

And thrust down in a sudden powerful motion, ramming itself straight through Dante's chest.

The devil hunter could only gasp out a single exclamation, blood erupting from his chest and spitting out his mouth, Force Edge knocked off his back by the new blade currently impaled through his back, his father's blade spinning away out of his reach. Dante was knocked flat on his back, the cursed sword piercing through the stone under him, pinning him to the floor, purple electricity crackling from the blade into the devil hunter's body as a pool of blood rapidly spread under him, staining the stone floor.

_Submit, mortal._

The blade crackled fiercely.

_Surrender your soul to me, and be my vessel back into the corporal wor-_

_**Shut up.**_

The sword's electricity simmered down into sparks, its words silenced.

And then they ceased entirely.

All was silent.

And then…

Dante's fingers twitched, ever so slightly.

And his eyes snapped open.

His legs rose, boots firmly on the floor, and he pushed.

Blood erupted from his chest, fabric and flesh tore as Dante rose up, more of his blood running down the blade's length. Dante's blood sprayed all over the floor as he ripped himself free from the blade entirely, the gaping wound vanishing in seconds. He slumped over, his entire upper body limp, arms hanging by his side. Slowly, he extended his right arm out, fingers flexing, blue eyes wide and focused-

And then he whirled around, fingers wrapping around the hilt. Dante smirked, expression fierce. As his grip on the sword tightened, blue lightning crackled from the blade and into his arm, traveling through his body…

And empowering him.

With a powerful tug, Dante smoothly ripped Alastor free from the stone, holding it before himself, grasping the hilt with both hands, and he slowly raised the blade into the air, blue lightning crackling over the blade and his body. Alastor crackled fiercely, sparks discharging around it-

And then a stream of lightning erupted from the blade and through the stained glass above, shattering it instantly.

Power filled Dante as he stared at his new sword, his latest Devil Arm…

And then as the glass fell around him, he swung the weapon out, slashing and slicing again and again, striking shards of glass into even smaller shards. Dante adjusted his footwork, striking more pieces. When all the shards around him had been destroyed, Dante tossed the sword into the air, where it spun rapidly, descending to the floor, only to meet the tip of his boot and fly back into the air. Dante caught the handle and swung the blade over his shoulder. Alastor sparked one last time…

And went silent.

Dante chuckled, glancing at his new toy's hilt.

"Sorry buddy, but I don't submit to anybody. They submit to me."

Devil Arms…

The souls of devils whose bodies had been destroyed, reformed into weapons that carried all their power. They had a nasty habit of possessing fools who dared to harness their power for themselves…

But Dante was far from a fool.

He had a small collection of Devil Arms to prove it.

His mood lightened, Dante glanced towards the floor, mindful of his blood, spotting Force Edge lying on its side by the steps. Exhaling deeply, Dante stepped over to his father's sword and lifted it up, studying its spotless surface. "Sorry pop," he whispered, and closed his eyes.

Force Edge glowed a dark purple before vanishing slowly, seeming to melt into nothing, Dante's gloved hand glowing the same purple for a split-second before returning to normal. Standing back up, Dante flexed his empty fingers before clenching them into a fist. It might be the blade that struck the demon emperor down two millennia ago…

But whatever power it once had was lost…

_No one can have this, Dante._

The devil hunter sighed, good mood fading.

Alastor crackled across his back.

"Shuddup."

Turning back towards the doors, Dante moved towards them, grasping the knob and turning, pushing the door open and stepping inside.

He found himself whistling again.

"Now this is a library!" Dante exclaimed; arms outstretched as he laughed loudly.

That little corner was nothing compared to this room. Rows of rows of dusty, moldy old books covered in cobwebs lined on ancient, crumbling shelves. There were lamps lighting the room up, allowing Dante to see much easier compared to the other rooms of the castle.

"Whoever owned this joint sure liked his reading," Dante mused.

He glanced at the table next to him but spotted no key. So he moved ahead, under the arch of the floor above, pausing mid-step when he noticed what lay in the back of the dusty old library. Not some dusty, cobweb covered desk…

But a huge tree trunk and vines rising and digging into the ceiling and floor. Dante narrowed his eyes, noting a hole in the trunk. It looked like there was a room back there…

He briefly contemplated hacking the tree into firewood with Alastor, but decided against it.

Too much effort, not enough motivation.

Though if he couldn't find a damn key soon he might just work up said motivation…

Dante moved up the steps quickly, and stood on the second floor balcony.

And the devil hunter once again found himself staring at a weird work of art.

Dante walked closer to the painting getting a good look.

It was a grim reaper like devil, holding something twisted in its hands, and floating in a forest…

Weird art aside, Dante found himself looking at what it was holding a little more closely. It gleamed faintly in the light of the room, a familiar bronze color. The devil hunter grinned and reached out with his right hand, tearing a second rusty key free from the grim reaper's grasp.

Chuckling, Dante twirled the key around the tip of his finger, glancing back at the painting.

"Better not come to life now…the last guy who tried that got his face shot off."

The painting remained motionless, and lifeless.

Chuckling, still twirling the key, Dante gripped the railing of the balcony and leapt over, landing back on the ground floor with a slight kick up of dust. He made his way back to the doors, stopping just as his hand rested on the doorknob for a moment, waiting. When nothing happened, he shook his head and opened the door, stepping back into the dark hallway.

Nothing stood between him and the golden double doors this time. Dante stuck the key in the lock and twisted. Once again the lock gave with a 'click'. And the key snapped in half.

Tossing the broken half aside, Dante opened the doors and stepped through.

Well he was out of the dusty, dark corridors and hallways and into the fading daylight. Dante guessed the crumbling, decrepit garden fountain was a nice change of pace. The hanging marionettes really didn't help the scenery though. Nor did the weird wall of glowing, purple and blue demonic power in the far corner.

Dante crossed his arms and waited.

Didn't have to wait long.

Almost a dozen of the freaky things, each wearing a different tunic, hats optional, blades in hand. They staggered towards Dante, sharpening their daggers and hooked blades. Dante smirked, hand resting on Alastor.

"Time to test you out."

The Devil Arm crackled harshly.

Chuckling, Dante drew the blade, holding it with both hands and crouching, blade drawn back and lighting up with streams of lightning. He flung the blade out like a boomerang and Alastor tore through them with greater efficiency than Force Edge, shattering the marionettes wooden bodies almost on contact, their limbs twitching as electricity coursed through them. Dante caught Alastor, grinning at his new toy.

"Not bad, but let's see how you do up close-"

He thrust the blade out, letting it guide him in a sudden stinger charged with lightning, the blade piercing through the nearest marionette and the two behind it. Dante ripped the blade out and stabbed it back in a sudden flurry of a million stabs in the ticks between a second, slicing the marionettes into bloody confetti. Dante gave Alastor a little spin, flicking the blood off its golden surface. The blade crackled with lightning.

Dante chuckled, cocking a silver brow.

"Oh, having fun are we?"

He balanced the Devil Arm across his shoulder and turned around slowly as he heard several wooden clanks, watching more marionettes fall from the balcony above, rising slowly and sharpening their blades. Dante jammed Alastor into the ground, giving the sword a little twirl and grinning. He could feel the tingles of electricity from the handle.

"Guess playtime isn't over yet."

The devil hunter raised Alastor and charged forward in a lightning charged stinger, shattering the closest marionette into wooden chunks. Rearing his blade back, Dante swept one up in a rising slash, knocking it straight into the air. Dante sheathed Alastor and whipped Ebony and Ivory out in the blink of an eye, shooting the marionette, juggling it with bullets to keep it midair, tearing it into shreds in seconds. A marionette had managed to stagger behind the devil hunter, brandishing its blades and rearing them back before bringing them down in a cross-slash aimed right for Dante's neck-

But the red clad half-demon back-flipped over the blades, still firing Ebony and Ivory to suspend himself in midair this time, while filling the marionette that had just tried to cleave his head off. He landed with a splash in the fountain, guns twirling and holstered as the bullet hole ridden puppet fell over, steam hissing from the holes. The remaining marionettes blindly staggered forward, in a straight line, Dante noticed with a grin, hand resting on Alastor's skull tipped hilt.

Lunging out in a lightning infused stinger, Dante shattered the remaining three marionettes, leaving the garden empty at last.

Dante twirled Alastor, the Devil Arm crackling one last time before going silent as it returned to its new place across the devil hunter's back. Dante turned to face the wall of demonic power. He narrowed his eyes, stepping closer. He could almost see-

The demonic power flared up and physically shoved him back, causing the devil hunter to grunt and stagger back. Righting himself, Dante glared at the glowing wall. "A 'do not disturb' sign would be nice, thanks." He griped. "Not to mention cheaper…"

Though now he could see a statue of a lion sitting just beyond the wall. Was that what it was protecting…

Or was that what it was keeping locked up?

Either way he smelled a fetch quest.

Jumping onto the ruined stairs, Dante spotted a peculiar metal patch in the stone walls, with a balcony to stand on. Jumping onto it, he inspected the metal wall closely. A lion's face was engraved on the surface. And under that was a message.

_Only those who the lion has accepted can set me free._

To that Dante rolled his eyes.

"What do I have to do, get my own harem and reign as king?" He paused at that. Not a half bad plan actually…

He shook the thoughts off.

So he had to find something that made the 'lion' accept him, huh?

"I hate puzzles," He muttered. Alastor crackled across his back suddenly.

"I can to figure this out!" He snapped at the blade.

Turning his attention to the broken balcony path to his left, Dante leapt onto it and begin walking the circular way, leaping over broken spots as he did. He saw another set of golden doors at the far end of a shattered walkway. Never one to be deterred, Dante cleared the distance in a single leap, and was pleased to find the doors unlocked.

Back into another hallway, though this one was considerably brighter, with more windows to let the golden rays of twilight pour in, and from what he could see of the gold framed art, it was also cheerier. Shame the marionettes ruined the pleasing scenery. Three of them dropped from bloody strings right of Dante, but the devil hunter was prepared.

He lunged forward with a lightning charged stinger, shattering the first one, the force of his blow staggering the one behind it and leaving it open for a quick slice that saw its head rolling on the floor. The third was preparing to throw a dagger, but Dante whipped Ebony out and blasted the thing's hand off, following several more shots to its blank face that sent if flying back, blood splattering across several portraits. Holstering Ebony, Dante made his way around the corner-

And straight into the path of several more marionettes.

Sighing, Dante reached for Alastor while asking to himself, "You'd think you guys woulda figured by now it would take an army of ya to make me break a sweat."

The marionettes couldn't respond of course.

Which didn't stop Dante from drawing Alastor and drawing the blade back, letting it charge with lightning and flinging it from himself. The Devil Arm spun like a boomerang, tearing the marionettes into bloody chunks. Dante caught Alastor as it rebounded.

No fuss, no muss.

He wasn't in the mood for stylish demon slaughter.

Sheathing Alastor, Dante looked towards the end of the hallway. What he saw made him raise his brow. He walked past the golden alter and angel statue to get a better look.

At the end of the hallway was a large statue of a person pound in chains, a metal hood over their face. A pedestal with a glowing hole on its center stood before the statue. Dante looked down on the pedestal. There was something engraved below the opening.

_This is where the guiding souls gather._

More cryptic crap, Dante thought. He could already tell he was probably going to have find something to fill that hole. He hated fetch quests.

There was nothing here, and Dante was starting to lose his patience. He turned and started back down the hallway-

He slowed, then stopped, just in front of the golden alter. The devil hunter cocked his head towards the alter. He could hear something…

He stepped towards the alter, head bowed, listening closely.

There.

He could hear…

Water rushing.

Leaning back, Dante shoved both hands against the golden alter. It only budged an inch or two. Rolling his eyes, he drew Alastor and slammed the blade against the alter in a three hit combo.

The alter slid back several feet, revealing a hatch in the floor. Bending over, Dante pulled the hatch open and was met with darkness, though he could hear the water more easily. "Down I go," He quipped.

Grabbing the side of the hole, he let himself fall in.

He landed with a splash and felt the uncomfortable sensation of water filling his boots. Groaning, Dante glanced down and found himself ankle deep in some nasty looking water. His icy eyes spotted several weeds growing from the floor. He turned around and saw the giant tree trunk and vines digging into the ceiling.

"Well I guess I can find out what's in here now," Dante said to himself, remembering the tree trunk in the library. Turning back around, Dante blinked when he spotted a familiar statue engraved in the wall. A skeleton in a priest's miter.

Though this sculpture was a little different.

The skeleton priest was holding a staff that was glowing a faint bronze.

Dante stared at the staff, and realized like Alastor before it…

It was sticking out of the statue.

Reaching up, he snapped the hands that held the staff off. Dante looked the staff over. "Ok, now what?"

His answer came from behind as the room suddenly began to rumble and the sound of stone and metal shifting reverberated in the small space. Turning around, Dante watched a section of the wall revolve around several times before revealing a door sized opening. Balancing the staff across his shoulders, Dante trudged through the water and through the door, back into the dusty old library.

Well, it didn't take a genius to figure this out. The other sculpture was just beyond the doors ahead, and he had the staff from the other one. He walked up to the doors, hand outstretched for the knob-

The whole door suddenly glowed white…

And the white took the shape of sneering skulls lined with sharp teeth.

A ghastly cackle echoed from all around the library. Dante rested the staff across his shoulders and turned around, icy eyes scanning the room. He found himself looking back at the balcony above, and he discovered he had a perfect view of that portrait of the grim reaper demon.

Only the grim reaper was gone.

The laugh echoed again, and the painting rippled like water. Two thin, clawed and green hands emerged from the ripples, gripping the sides of the portrait frame. What emerged from the portrait was the familiar sight of the grim reaper demon, cloaked in black, with a green mask peeking out from the dark shadows of its hood. Dante tipped his head, watching a second, and then a third reaper rise and descend from the balcony and ceiling, joining the first.

Each reaper suddenly produced a pair of oversized, rusted scissors. The devils laughed once again, filling the room, their scissors of death snapping in menace. Dante sighed, shaking his head and placing the staff against the small table next to the doors.

"Didn't I warn you about coming to life?" Dante reminded the scissors as they slowly floated towards him, breaking and surrounding him. Dante whipped out Ebony and Ivory, crossing his arms over and opening fire, his bullets ripping through the ether of their cloaks, bouncing off the rusty surfaces of their weapons and striking their masks. The two screeched, raising their weapons over their faces to deflect the bullets.

The third suddenly charged forward, scissors opened. Dante cursed, thrusting Ebony and Ivory forward-

Shunk.

Dante grunted as the twin blades pierced his chest.

_Shit, _He thought.

Twice in one day? Or should he count this as three?

The grim reaper laughed madly, reeling its weapon back and Dante with it, tossing him over its shoulders and onto the balcony above. Dante collided into a desk with another grunt, the table shattering under into splinters and scattered papers. Rising up, popping his neck, Dante started to raise Ebony and Ivory-

When something by his boot caught his eye.

Dante looked down…

And grinned.

The scissors followed after Dante, blades snapping, cackles echoing-

A loud boom drowned out their laughter, turning it into shocked cries as buckshot pellets tore into their masks and bounced off their blades. Dante grinned, snapping the cylinders of the double-barrel shotgun he held now open. "You find the darndest things at your local library." Dante concluded.

Reloading, Dante fired again, buckshot forcing the reapers back and even causing one to almost drop its scissors. Dante drew Alastor and jumped into the air, bringing the blade down hard and cleaving the reaper in half, sending its scissors spinning into the air. The reaper vanished, melting into shadows, its scissors shattering into a trillion pieces. The other two snapped their blades in anger, charging down on Dante as he landed on the floor. The devil hunter was ready, shotgun in hand, twin shots of buckshot causing the devils to stagger in the air.

Dante leapt, slashing the closest one to pieces, sending its weapon into the air with a high-pitched screech. The last charged at Dante, blades held wide open to cut through his whole body-

But the devil hunter leapt over it, forcing it to turn around-

And meeting the double-barrels of his new shotgun.

Dante grinned at the reaper.

"Told ya I'd shoot your face off."

The blast did indeed shatter the reaper's face off, and it screamed as it melted into ether. Dante took a single step back to avoid the falling scissors, though they exploded into vanishing shards shortly after. Dante spun his new gun around before stopping, admiring his latest weapon.

He already had one back home…

But there was no such thing as having too many shotguns.

Slipping it into a holster on his leg, Dante approached the doors, watching the white skulls vanish, and a spectral, clawed hand reach out towards him futilely before shattering into ether as well. "Who's laughing now?" He asked the dead devils, grabbing the staff by the table before opening the doors and stepping through them.

The library was silent…

Save for the fading echoes of cackling laughter.

* * *

Dante stepped back into the hallway-

And felt something crunch under his boot.

He blinked once in confusion, then several more times to fight back tears when the acrid stench of sulfur filled the room. The devil hunter looked down, and almost did a double take. Dozens of spiders covered the floor. But these weren't any ordinary spiders.

These arachnids were made of stone and lava. And the freaky little things were currently making a meal out of his drying blood on the floor.

"Yeesh, like the demons weren't bad enough," Dante said, spinning Ebony and Ivory before aiming at the floor and the bugs crawling all over it. He opened fire, bullets striking the bugs one-by-one with pin-point accuracy. The critters freaked out and scattered, scuttling towards the sculpture of the death priest.

"No salvation there little guys," Dante warned them, pausing in his shooting to watch them crawl towards the sculpture…

And vanish under it.

Dante blinked, watching the bugs disappear one by one.

He followed after them, watching the last one vanish. Crouching down, he felt along the floor where they had been crawling…

And wouldn't you know it; there was some space under the sculpture.

Chuckling aloud, Dante looked up at the sculpture of the priest skeleton.

"So they say hide a leaf in a forest…so would this be hiding a door in a wall, padre?" He asked the sculpture. He felt along the statue's surface and found a hole in the priest's hands.

Reaching for the staff, Dante slid it between the skeleton's hands. There was a soft click, of something unlocking, and a perfectly straight line of light bisected the sculpture.

Dante grinned.

"Let's see where this'll take me…"

* * *

Mission two completed.

And so far a total of one review and one follow.

Better than nothing. at least I know someone's reading it now.

Not much in this chapter, or rather mission, just Alastor. Unfortunately, he's not going to be as lively as his Viewtifull Joe self.

Anyhoo, let us do a Review Response:

TheQuietCat: Make that 21 to go. There's actually an unfinished novel of the first game around on this site somewhere, but it's a...slightly different take on the game. I'm going by the game itself, just adding some one-liners for Dante and some of his moves from DMC3 and DMC4 with mentions of 3 and the mangas and novel. I might add a gag or two for the orbs, but not too many or it'll get forced and boring. Ha! Best part of DMC3. Hope to hear from you again.

I encourage reviews, silent readers. I take all kinds, and it's a nice motivation to keep writing.


	4. Chapter 3

_**Devil May Cry.**_

_Mission Three: Destroyer of Ardor._

_Overcome the trial and acquire the "Pride of Lion".  
_

* * *

Through the sculpture of a death priest…

And into a church.

Figures, was Dante's conclusion.

He took a few steps in-

When he felt a sudden rush of demonic power behind him, and heard a strange hum. Whirling around, he watched the familiar sight of the white, grinning skulls seal off the doors out of here. Man, when they wanted you in church, they did not play around here…

He looked towards his right, spotting another set of doors, also blocked off by demonic power.

"Well…shit." Dante muttered, unsure of what to do now.

Usually to break the seals he had to kill stuff. Or hit something until it broke. Dante turned away from the doors, looking around the church.

…which was seriously weirding him out.

It resembled a typical place of worship, carved from stone, light pouring from some stained glass windows overlooking an alter…but the stone pillars rising from the floor to the ceiling were _pulsing,_ like veins. Dante slowly walked towards the alter, eyes on the pulsing pillars. This church, this holy spot…

Was brimming with demonic power.

Dante was thankful he had a sense of irony to go with his sense of humor.

He arrived at the alter and was greeted by a new sight.

Rising from the alter in a pillar of blue demonic energy was a stone plate…

…with a lion engraved on it.

The devil hunter grinned. "Gee, I wonder where this goes?" He asked aloud to no one.

Dante reached for the plate-

-only for the plate to suddenly rise out of his reach.

Blinking, Dante looked up at the higher plate.

He jumped, reaching for the item again-

And this time it fell back to its original position.

Landing back in front of the alter, Dante glared at the idol and shook his head in disgust, rubbing his brow as he felt the onset of a migraine.

"Is it too much to ask for something not to be stupid and complicated?" Dante asked aloud. No response. Alastor didn't even act up.

First sign of madness, talking to yourself. Ah, who was he kidding, he had gone crazy years ago.

Looking at the floating plate, Dante wondered what he should do, resting his hand on the alter-

And felt empty spaces.

Blinking, he looked down on the alter. Engraved on its surface were words. Squinting, Dante peered down, reading them.

_The Pride of the Lion is granted only to those who choose the path of trials._

Dante frowned. What was that supposed to-

The plate flashed suddenly, almost blinding Dante who staggered back, blinking spots out of his eyes. He looked up at the plate, watching it glow brighter and brighter-

Then release a thin beam of demonic energy straight across the cathedral.

Dante watched in awe as the beam struck the sealed door at the south of the room, shattering the veil of screaming souls, leaving only a spectral hand to reach out before shattering as well. He laughed, looking back at the plate. "You better be able to do that after I get my hands on you!"

Still laughing, he turned and moved towards the door, getting the feeling his 'trial' was beyond the doors ahead.

* * *

Once again, Dante was outside, and he could hear the waves and smell the salt of the sea below.

The devil hunter found himself standing on a ridiculously long stone bridge overlooking the ocean. Dante drew Ebony and Ivory from their holsters from his back, having them ready. He could see something at the end of the bridge, and he had the feeling that was his trial.

But there wasn't a single trial he couldn't conquer by shooting it repeatedly.

And if that didn't work, stabbing it.

Guns in hand, Dante started running down the bridge, ignoring the strong winds. It took a few minutes, but Dante reached the end of the bridge, a circular balcony. Rising archways formed a three pronged claw to keep whatever was on it in it. Dante looked down, noting several reflecting mirrors and stained glass lined the floor. And dead center in it…

A swirling mirror of darkness just below an engraving. Dante eyed the swirling pool, Ivory pointed right at in case something tried to claw its way out. He looked at the engraving, then back at the dark pool.

He sighed, knowing he had to read those words to start the trial.

He walked over, and onto the swirling pool, finding it solid like rock. When nothing tried to reach up claw him to shreds, he turned his attention to the engraving. What he read almost made him pop a blood vessel.

_Go back the path and thou shalt return from the abyss with thy lionheart, and thou shalt receive the Pride of Lion._

His trial had been walking across a bridge?!

Well…

Lot easier than running down a corridor filled with spikes trying to skewer him.

Turning away from the engraving, shaking his head in disgust, Dante started back across the bridge for the church.

"I swear if there's a giant lion waiting for me-" He started to gripe-

Thunder roared overhead. Before Dante could react, a bright beam of lightning struck him hard, causing him to flinch and stagger a few steps. The devil hunter blinked.

"Trish? What the-" He started to ask when the bridge began to rumble. Dante looked around, expecting the thing to fall apart. Well, it didn't fall apart. It broke apart into chunks of various size that floated in the air for a split-second.

Then they fell.

* * *

Dante hit the cold ocean below and sank like a rock. When he struck the bottom and looked back up, seeing nothing but light and water, no falling chunks of bridge. Looking ahead, Dante saw something ahead.

Even he could drown, and he was glad he had taken a deep breath before hitting the ocean. He had to get out of here and fast. Charging forward, he was annoyed to discover his movements were impeded by the weight of the water, not by much, but enough to bother him. He didn't have to run far when he spotted a familiar circle of darkness.

A portal, the devil hunter realized.

He moved towards it-

When several skulls the size of his entire upper body surrounded him. Dante slowed, looking around himself in a complete circle. Six of them, one of him.

The closest one charged forward with a snarl, jaws parted to take a bite out of the devil hunter-

And finding not flesh and blood but demonic metal and lightning as Alastor tore the skull in half. Two more skulls charged forward but Dante split them open with two quick slashes from Alastor. The last three came at him all at once, but a single wide slash with Alastor saw them break into chunks of bone.

Nuisances taken care, Dante sheathed Alastor and turned towards the portal, stepping onto it. Blue light enveloped him-

And Dante stood on the other side of the broken bridge, soaked to the bone. He noted his attire with disgust. "This is dry clean only assholes! You know how expensive that is?!" He shouted at the ocean below.

Shaking his arms to wring them of as much water possible, Dante turned towards the double doors, scowling as he made his way back for the freaky cathedral. He hoped he never had to come back to this damn bridge again. His good mood was ruined, and now he wanted something to be waiting for him.

Killing demons always made him feel better.

* * *

Dante walked back into the church, water still dripping off his form. He looked towards the later and watched as the pillar of blue power suspending the plate dissipated, letting the object gently fall onto the alter below.

"That's it?!" He exclaimed, throwing his arms out. Groaning in disgust and shaking his head, he started towards the alter. This had to be one of the stupidest things he had done in a long time.

And he had once proposed to a goddamn mop.

Arriving in front of the alter, he grabbed the plate and studied the lion engraving for a moment before slipping the item into a pocket inside his soaking trenchcoat.

Dante started to turn-

And Alastor started to crackle with lightning.

_Danger,_ the voice of the Devil Arm hissed.

The glass above shattered, and the devil hunter whirled around in time to watch another one of those spiders made of stone and lava drop from above.

This one though, was thirty times the size of the other ones, Dante noted, stepping back slowly, as the demon reared back and roared, front pincers raised.

Mama bug, Dante thought. He found himself vaguely wondering if it was mad he had killed all the baby bugs.

The massive arachnid righted itself and approached the devil hunter, all six glowing blue eyes locked onto him, steps shaking the whole church, the heat from the thing causing the water still soaking his coat to evaporate into steam and ripple the air around the burning lava that made up its body and limbs. The demon looked him over a moment before its mandibles began clacking.

"**Bah. Another small one." **It complained, voice deep and booming, crackling like the roar of flames.

Papa bug, amended Dante.

"**I sensed something a little bigger," **Went on the creature, mandibles upturning its best attempt at a sneer. "**What a disappointing catch."**

Disappointing, eh?

Chuckling, Dante reached over while saying, "What a 'big' surprise. I hope for your sake you got something inside that big body of yours." He rapped his knuckles against its closest leg, unmindful and uncaring of the heat as he sneered back in the demon's face.

The overgrown bug didn't take too kindly to this insolence.

Its blue eyes bled red, enraged.

"**You puny pathetic thing! I'll step on you like an ant!"** It roared, before cackling madly and raising the pincer Dante had rapped his knuckles against to fulfill its promise. The limb came down hard, shattering the ground before the alter-

But not Dante as he leaped easily over the demon in a single bound, shotgun out in the blink of an eye to unload some buckshot into its bulbous rear. The pellets merely bounced off the demon's stony hide, and the beast cackled as it slowly began turning around to face its impudent meal.

"**You think a human's gun can harm me? ME?! The mighty Phantom, general of the prince of darkness himself?! Stupid hu-AAAAHHHH!"**

"Don't forget to add 'lord of the big mouth'," Dante said, Alastor swinging, cutting into the Phantom's smoking mouth, the devil hunter jumping backwards as it swiped its pincers out in fury.

"**You worm!"** Phantom roared, mouth opened wide in a roar…and glowing flames as it spat a fireball at Dante. The devil hunter ducked and rolled, dodging the fireball which hit one of the pulsing pillars, though it failed to so much as scorch said pillar. Dante hardly cared though and lunged forward in a lightning charged stinger, Alastor nailing the fire spider right between its multiple eyes. The beast screeched and flailed its pincers out in an attempt to slice Dante into ribbons, but the devil hunter once more leapt backwards, avoiding the blows.

Laughing, Dante wagged his hands in invitation at the fire demon.

Phantom roared…and sunk his mandibles into the floor.

That made Dante pause for a second, frowing-

Though realization struck him when he felt the floor under him suddenly heat up to extreme temperatures. Exclaiming, he quickly moved out of the way to avoid being microwaved by a rising pillar of flames that erupted from the spot he had been standing on. Dante didn't have a chance to catch his breath, as another pillar shot up, forcing him to dash and jump to avoid it, repeating the moves when a third and fourth shot up quickly after that. But on the fifth pillar, Dante angled his jump so that he landed right in front of Phantom's ducked head.

The demon couldn't react in time, only roar in pain and fury as Dante tore into his face with Alastor, burning magma for blood spilling out the fresh wounds. Dante jumped back once again as Phantom furiously struck out with his pincers-

Though the devil hunter almost found himself skewered by the stinger on the end of the tail that uncoiled from Phantom's rear if not for the last second shove he gave it to propel himself further back, the rocky tip burying itself in the floor instead. Phantom roared in fury for his miss, jaws burning bright as he launched several more fireballs at Dante. The devil hunter slid behind one of the pulsing pillars, letting it take the damage, grinning as the demon roared in fresh fury, scuttling away from the alter and once again sinking its fangs into the floor. Dante charged straight ahead, Alastor drawn and tore into Phantom's face before any pillars of fire could even rise.

The fire spider screeched in fury and pain, pincers snapping out, forcing Dante back. The devil hunter's icy blue eyes narrowed when he saw the lava making up Phantom's body had turned a darker shade, more of its magma blood leaking out from all over itself. "Let's wrap this up," Dante said, hand on Alastor.

Phantom roared, mouth wide and flashing bright-

But it had no chance to launch the fireball as Dante lunged forward in a lightning charged stinger, pushing the fireball back down Phantom's throat. The demon roared in pain as its body flashed from the internal explosion. But Dante didn't let up; he tore into Phantom's screeching face, Alastor crackling with currents of lightning to spice things up.

Phantom screeched in agony, pincers flailing, forcing Dante to skip back, blade raised and ready.

But Phantom suddenly tore his claws into the floor, magma bubbling and boiling around him as he tunneled into the floor, dragging its fat self into a portal of fire, vanishing from sight, his screeching roars fading into echoes.

Dante chuckled, jamming Alastor into the floor and giving it a little spin as he watched the 'mighty' Phantom run away.

"Wimp," he called, chuckling.

Returning Alastor across his back, Dante reached into his coat and produced the plate with the lion engraved on it. Forget the trial of the lion, call that one the trial of the spider.

Why did he get the feeling this was the first of a whole lot of really stupid fetch quests?

And why did he also feel this was probably the easiest one he'd encounter…

Barring the giant fire spitting lava spider, of course, as that had clearly been a whole other issue.

"Beats blindly wandering a boring old castle I guess," was his conclusion as he slipped the plate back into his coat. Dante started towards the double doors, wanting to be out of this weird church as soon as possible. Like the bridge he hoped he wouldn't have to come back here anytime soon.

* * *

And mission three. So little happens here it makes mission one look interesting.

Oh, and Phantom. Who I never really found hard for some reason.

My strategies with him was always dodge the fire pillars and Stinger him just as he's about to fire the fireballs, damaging him and not Dante.

And we have one fresh review:

sanddrake111: Well, seeing how as I have the next two missions already novelized, that should happen very soon. And thank you.


	5. Chapter 4

_**Devil May Cry.**_

_Mission Four: Black Knight._

_Display one's strength to the Lion and open the path. _

_Acquire the "Melancholy Soul"._

* * *

Dante re-entered the dark hallway, the weight of the lion plate resting in his trenchcoat comfortably. The devil hunter made his way down the short stairs, moving closer to the golden double doors that would take him back to the decrepit garden, where the metal wall with the lion engraved on it was. Dante was still unsure of what exactly he was supposed to do when he got back there though…

_Eh, I'll figure it out as I go…like every other puzzle in this place, _he thought with a smirk, gloved hand extended out to grasp the knob of one of the doors-

A thunderous crash from behind him, followed by a sudden wave of heat and Alastor's discharge of lightning made the devil hunter whirl around ice blue eyes wide as he found himself staring at an open maw of magma and pincers of stone grasping the walls.

"Well someone's a sore loser," Dante said, grinning as Phantom roared and started scuttling towards him, open maw burning brightly.

_Uh-oh._

Dante backflipped as Phantom spat a large fireball, a pillar and painting behind him shattering and lighting aflame respectively. Dante hated close-quarters with a huge enemy, and Phantom's fatass was charging after him, forcing him to turn and run, leaping again to avoid another fireball.

"Demons," he huffed, leaping over another fireball, watching a pillar shatter into rubble. "No sense of honor for a fair fight." Seeing the end of the hallway with the creepy face statue sticking out of the wall up ahead, Dante realized he was running out of running room. The devil hunter now had two options: Retreat into the small library and hope Phantom would leave, or stand his ground.

Dante stood there a moment.

Then he burst out laughing, and spun around, hand on Alastor's hilt, grinning as he watched Phantom roar and charge up another fireball. The demon lava spider launched the flaming ball-

And Dante swung Alastor out, striking the fireball just as it reached him, knocking it right back into Phantom's mouth, causing it to roar in pain and scuttle backwards, giving Dante the break he needed to charge forward in a lightning charged stinger, making Phantom roar again in renewed agony and fury. Dante hacked into the spider's mouth, lightning charged demonic metal cutting into the living magma and spilling the demon's burning blood all over the floor, the acrid stench of sulfur wafting up into Dante's nostrils. Phantom futilely lunged out with his pincers but Dante leapt up and came slamming back down with Alastor, spilling more boiling blood and ripping a fresh scream from the demon.

Phantom managed to finally shove Dante away, and just as the devil hunter was prepping to charge forward again, the lava bug was digging another burning tunnel, retreating once again. Dante chuckled, resting Alastor across his shoulders, and he called to the retreating demon once more, "Wimp!" Returning Alastor across his back, Dante made his way past the shattered and burning rubble and to the double doors, stepping through them and into the decrepit garden once more.

Dante made his way past the fountain, towards the wall of glowing demonic power. He jumped onto the crumbling balcony and faced the metal wall with the lion face engraved onto it. Reaching into his coat, he produced the lion plate and did a quick look over of it, then the wall itself. He frowned when he could no slot or spot to slide the plate into.

Dante looked at the plate again in confusion.

_I don't get it. What was the point of getting this thing then? _The devil hunter asked himself, raising the plate up and getting a better look at it. He looked back at the wall, specifically the engraving etched onto it.

_Only those who the lion has accepted can set me free._

Dante looked over his shoulder, remembering the face of a lion statue behind the demonic energy. The devil hunter jumped off the balcony, landing right in front of the energy wall. He raised the lion plate towards the wall.

Nothing happened for a second…

Then the glowing wall slowly faded away, revealing the stone statue of a red-eyed lion.

Dante slipped the plate back into his coat and eyed the statue closely. The red eyes watched him closely as well. Then they flickered, as if blinking.

Dante smirked, hand reaching for Alastor.

The blade crackled harshly as Dante struck the statue over and over, though it only took a few blows to see the thing crumble into dust….and to make the owner of the blazing eyes screech in fury. Lines of shadows erupted from the crumbling statue, forcing Dante to step back and watch as the statue crumpled completely, leaving only a shadow of it left behind...a shadow with red eyes of unbridled fury, another screech echoing across the garden as the shadow flowed like water, moving down under the spot the lion statue had been, away from Dante who watched with a smirk, Alastor resting across his shoulders. The shadow flowed out, and rose up, form shifting into a distinctively feline shape with long fangs, shadowy fur raised in bristles as it hissed at Dante in demonic fury.

Dante held his hand to the shadow, and whispered, "Here kitty, kitty…"

The demon didn't take too kindly to the mocking tone, and it leapt into the air, its body shifting from a feline shape into a double-sided blade that began to spin very fast. Dante ducked and rolled as the spinning shadow slammed itself into the spot where Dante had been standing. The devil hunter rose up and lunged out in a lightning charged stinger-

And his blade passed through the shadow like ether, and the beast snarled loudly before flowing into the ground, taking the form of a shapeless blob, a thin line branching off from the blob and rising into a spear that Dante avoided with a jerk back…and then quickly running backwards to avoid the follow-up spears. Dante returned Alastor to his back and flipped away from the shadow as it reformed, the demon feline snarling again before leaping into the air and taking the shape of the spinning double blade, charging right at Dante as he reached for something strapped to his leg-

BOOM!

The shadow screeched as buckshot struck its body, its flight path diverted, slamming into the wall. Dante cracked the shotgun open, letting the smoking shells fall before reloading. He sneered at the shadow as it reformed into the feline form, fur shaking the buckshot pellets loose. "Aww, kitty doesn't like the loud guns?"

The shadow screeched, form melting into the ground, spears shooting up to impale the insolent devil hunter. Dante leapt back, easily dodging the spears and soon as the shadow reformed, he let loose another blast from his shotgun, causing the demon to screech in pain again and again with each load of buckshot. Even when it tried the spinning blade trick again, Dante just kept firing, eliciting more screeches, less of fury, more of pain.

One last shot saw the shadow cat fall to the ground before it could even reform into a blade…and then melt into the ground, a glowing red and black orb rising from the formless blob. Dante holstered his shotgun, reaching for Alastor, gripping the hilt tightly as he asked the blade, "Ready for a spin, sparky?"

Alastor crackled harshly, no doubt in indignation.

"Would you rather I call you 'Al'?" Dante asked the sword as he charged forward, striking the glowing orb of the shadow with a lightning charged stinger. Dante tore into the orb, Alastor's strikes charged with lightning adding to the damage, though the devil hunter was almost thrown aside by the sudden spikes that shot up from the shadowy blob, though he just sidestepped them and continued to tear into the orb with Alastor. The orb pulsed angrily, the blob of shadows rising back over it, reforming into the demon feline, only now the shadows that made up its body was glowing a pissed off shade of red and orange.

The cat snarled and hissed in fury at Dante, red eyes blazing. Dante chuckled and held his hand to the demon, shotgun resting across his shoulders. The demon feline roared and leapt into the air, reforming into the spinning blade that Dante easily dodged, opening fire with his shotgun twice, buckshot peppering the beast, which roared, hitting the ground hard and melting into shadows that shot towards Dante. The devil hunter had his shotgun ready but he exclaimed a "Whoa!" as the shadow lunged out, forming into a huge mouth filled with fangs the size of his arm.

The shadow cat hissed and roared loudly, that weird orb emerging from its back. Dante cocked a brow at this, watching as the shadow roared in fury-

And exploded.

Dante jumped back to avoid the worst of it, landing easily and giving his shotgun a twirl before returning it to his leg holster. He stared at the hole on the ground where the demon had been when he heard a familiar hum and crackle of shattering demonic power. He looked up at the wall where the lion engraved spot was. He crouched and leapt back onto the balcony, watching the wall rise up and away, revealing a doorway.

Dante looked back at the garden, reaching into his coat and pulling out the plate, staring at the engraving. "Pride of the lion, huh?" He asked the empty air. Then he tossed the plate aside and stepped through the new door.

* * *

Dante found himself in what resembled a church belltower. The balcony area he was standing on was illuminated by two torch lamps above the door, giving him some light to see a set of stairs right across from him. The sound of wood crashing to the ground next to him alerted him to the presence of a red tunic wearing marionette.

Sighing in aggravation, Dante whipped his shotgun out and blasted the marionette across the face, sending it falling flat on its back with a thud. Dante walked calmly after it, pressing his boot onto its chest, pinning it, and allowing Dante to fire two more loads of buckshot into the puppet, shattering it into chunks of wood, blood and buckshot. "I'm starting to get why people hate puppets," Dante mused to himself as he holstered his shotgun back onto his leg.

He looked over his shoulder to back at the stairs going up, his ice blue eyes following them up and up. Then he glanced over the railing, and saw it was an equally long fall. The devil hunter looked from down to up, then up and down again. He sighed, rubbing the back of his head.

"Geez, I need to start flipping a coin or something…"

Gripping the rail, Dante vaulted over, falling for several seconds before landing with a hard 'thud' and splash. The impact from a fall like this would have seen a regular human's entire lower body shatter like glass. For Dante there was just an uncomfortable rattle through his legs.

"Oi, gonna be feelin' that in the morning," He murmured, looking around. He was at the very bottom of the tower, he saw another spinning wheel to his right and a staircase right in front of him. By the stairs, a door.

"Heh. Guess I chose right for once," Dante chuckled to himself. He walked towards the door, noting it too was engraved with a lion's face, though the jaws on this one were wide open, just enough space to fit his fist into it. Dante regretted tossing the plate aside. He pushed against the door a little, finding it had no give. He could feel an immense power holding it in place, not just a regular lock.

Dante squinted, seeing something etched onto the door's surface.

_This path will open with a guiding soul._

Dante groaned a sigh, rolling his eyes.

"What, my soul isn't leading me the right way?" He asked the door. He glanced at the stairs, following them up with his eyes. He was dismayed to discover the stairs were blocked off around the third floor, leaving him seemingly stuck where he was. "Apparently not," was his conclusion. Then he looked back at the wheel.

"Eh. What the hell?"

He reached for Alastor, the Devil Arm crackling as he slammed it into the wheel again and again, the kanji lighting up, the electricity from the blade seeming to give them life. After a few more blows the wheel flashed brightly. Behind Dante, something shifted and burned a bright red. The devil hunter turned around and saw a small circular platform glowing red and beginning to shake.

Dante jumped onto the platform just as it began to rise up…and up…and up.

Chuckling as he watched the balconies fly by, Dante said to himself, "Now this is my kinda elevator." When he passed a balcony with a set of double doors on it, he exclaimed, "Whoa hey! That's my stop!"

But the platform didn't listen, just kept on rising, taking Dante all the way to the top of the tower, directly in front of a single platform jutting out from the wall.

And there resting on said platform, was a sword, resting against the wall.

Dante cocked a brow.

"Ok, I take that back. Looks like this is my stop." He jumped off the rising platform and onto the jutting one, the pillar he had rode on instantly starting to fall back down all the way back to the bottom.

Dante picked the blade up, whistling, impressed by the design.

Like Alastor and Force Edge, the pommel of the hilt was bottomed off by a skull, though the crossguard was made of bronze, carved to resemble four dragon heads, the blade itself was a little thinner than Alastor and serrated. "Fancy," Dante complimented. Fancy and ultimately useless.

He couldn't feel any demonic power or any kinda of magical aura around the blade. It was a regular, nicely designed, run of the mill sword. "Wonder who left this here?" He asked, looking it over closely. He considered leaving it where he found it, as he didn't need some fancy sword when he had Alastor. Demons didn't fall to regular weapons so easily, Devil Arms and a lot of bullets were the best bets against them.

But Dante knew there was a reason this sword was put here.

"I'm thinking waaaaay too hard about this," He said, jumping from the platform to the balcony below, landing right in front of the double doors. And between two marionettes, which collapsed before rising back up, brandishing their curved blades.

Before the marionettes could do a thing, Dante reached with his free hand, drawing Alastor and slamming the lightning charged Devil Arm down onto the marionette's in front of him head, splitting it in two, while he spun the decorative sword in his other hand around and thrust backwards, through the jaw and head of the second, though not as easily. Both marionettes collapsed, melting into blood and purple mist. Dante sheathed Alastor and eyed the decorative sword more appreciatively.

"Maybe I'm wrong about you," He considered, then reached over and opened the doors, stepping into the new room.

The devil hunter grinned. "Hey, now this ain't half-bad." The silver-haired man found himself standing in a slightly run down bedroom, a full sized mirror to his left, a vanity, dresser and a four poster bed to his right. The room was covered in cobwebs but he hardly cared. That bed was looking rather nice and he felt like a nap…

Dante started towards the bed when something glimmered in the corner of his eye.

Slowly turning around, he saw his own reflection looking back at him. Dante frowned, confused for a moment, glancing around the mirror. He saw something weird on the wall next to the mirror. A carving of a sun with a face on it. Dante was moving closer to study the sun face before that same glimmer flashed again, reflecting off the mirror from a statue right next to it. Approaching the statue, Dante saw it was a bust of a woman, her face forever trapped in an expression of woe and despair…with something round stuck in her mouth.

Dante pulled on the object but it wouldn't budge. Hissing in annoyance, he let his hand fall and his fingers felt an opening on the bust. Looking down, he saw a perfectly straight line opened on the statue…just thin enough for something to slide in. Grinning, Dante raised the decorative sword, eying it for a moment before sliding it in, the sound of metal scraping stone smooth as a glove.

A click sounded, and the jaw of the woman loosened, letting the round object fall loose. Dante dropped onto one knee, picking the little ball up, studying it. It was just a weird looking ball colored a faded bronze. Dante squeezed his fist over it, remembering the door at the bottom of the tower. He grinned as he realized this little thing would fit easily in that-

Alastor crackled fiercely across his back, though the voice of the Devil Arm remained silent this time. Dante's head snapped up, eye wide. He didn't need Alastor to tell him…

He could feel the demonic power that suddenly filed the room, almost palpable…

Dante slowly stood up, looking around the room, trying to pinpoint the location of the demonic aura-

And then he realized it was coming from behind him.

Dante spun around…

And was greeted only by his reflection.

The devil hunter stared at the mirror and the image of himself, eyes narrowing, lips curving into a frown.

Something was off…

Then his eyes widened as his reflection moved…And began walking towards him.

Dante stepped back as his double walked through the mirror, until both stood across from each other.

_First my shadow, now my reflection,_ the devil hunter noted dryly, eying the double warily.

The doppelganger sneered as it watched Dante.

Then, it slowly raised its arms out, and a blue aura surrounded it…

Dante's reflection faded away, and was replaced by a figure almost twice his own height. Red leather became stone like armor that pulsed and glowed strange ribbons of blue and purple, the familiar face covered by a horned helm with a smirking face, ice blue eyes becoming orange flares, a long dark cape hanging from its back, stopping just at its ankles. The knight moved suddenly, drawing a massive zweihander that appeared to be made of the same material as the armor on its body, and pulsed with the same ribbons.

A dark knight, Dante thought with a smirk.

Pacing slowly, moving back and forth and waving his arm out, Dante mused, "This stinkin' hole was the last place I thought I'd find anyone with some guts…"

The dark knight didn't respond, only raise his free hand and snap his fingers.

Across from the devil hunter and knight a set of double doors leading to a balcony on the outside opened.

The knight started walking towards the doors, his armor clanking loudly. He looked over his shoulder towards Dante, giving a quick jerk of his head and motion with his arm. _Follow me_.

Then he turned and charged straight through the doors and leaped into the air. Dante only saw the tail end of his cape before the doors slammed shut. The devil hunter chuckled, arms crossing over his chest.

"I guess it is too cramped in here for a duel..." He mused, looking around the room one last time before charging after the knight, shoving the doors open and stepping outside onto the balcony. He leapt running over the railing and found himself in another courtyard, crouched right by a dry fountain. He looked around, but he couldn't see the dark knight anywhere. Then his eyes widened when he heard the familiar scrape of armor against stone, and Dante whirled around, looking up.

There, at the highest point atop a section of the castle, the dark knight stood, blade held high. Then he raised his other arm out, lowering his massive sword a bit, tipping his head back in a silent praise as the wind whipped around him, cape flowing…

And then he leapt with a fierce exclamation, both hands on his massive zweihander's hilt.

Dante ducked and rolled backwards, the knight's blade cutting a huge gash on the ground where he had been standing. Recovering, Dante whipped out his shotgun and blasted a load of buckshot, but the knight reversed his blade, holding it back and deflecting all the pellets before pulling his blade back and charging forward, his sword lit with blue flames. Dante dodged the charging slash by jumping into the air, hand on Alastor as he came crashing back down, both hands on the crackling Devil Arm-

And hitting nothing but air as the dark knight vanished in a burst of blue flames, reappearing a few feet away from Dante, pacing a little before raising his blade out, the massive weapon lit up with blue fire. Dante saw his opening and lunged forward in a lightning charged stinger, landing the stab right in the knight's midsection. The huge warrior grunted, air whooshing out of his unmoving mouth, winding him, and letting Dante tear into him, his blade stabbing a million times, the final stab knocking the knight back several steps. Grinning as he watched the knight reel, Dante taunted, "C'mon dude! Where's your motivation?" Before he charged forward, blade ready to slice the knight's head off-

Only for the knight to vanish in a burst of blue flames once again.

Dante looked around, leaving himself open as the black knight reappeared next to him and lunged out with a loud roar, his massive blade landing three hard hits on the smaller devil hunter, who was knocked flat on his back several feet away with a grunt. Dante flipped back onto his feet and crouched, pulling Alastor back, the Devil Arm charging with lightning before he flung it out at the demon knight-

Who vanished once again in a burst of blue flames, though he reappeared atop a castle wall, watching Dante as the devil hunter caught his blade on the rebound. The knight's face forever trapped in a smirk was even more mocking as he raised his free hand, wagging his fingers in invitation.

_Come on._

Dante grinned fiercely, resting Alastor across his shoulders, feeling his blood leak out from his wounds as they slowly healed. He hadn't a real fight in a long time….

"This may be fun," murmured Dante as he dashed and ran up the castle wall, rolling in the air and landing a few feet away from the knight. The armor wearing warrior had dropped into his own crouch, free hand pulled back, blue fire igniting in his open palm and glowing brighter with every passing second. With a roar, he threw the blue ball of demonic fire at Dante but the silver haired devil hunter ducked and rolled, rose and lunged in a lightning charged stinger, nailing the knight square in the gut a second time before he tore into him with Alastor's electricity charged blade. The knight staggered back, just out of Alastor's reach and Dante dashed forward to stab him again-

But the knight vanished, reappearing behind Dante dropped back in a crouch, hand pulled back and gathering blue flames-

BOOM!

The knight grunted, staggering back, his fireball dispersed as Dante unloaded another blast of buckshot, the black knight unable to deflect the pellets with his sword this time, leaving him open and letting Dante rush forward in a stinger, his blade stabbing the knight in a flurry of blows, a million stabs in an instant finished with a final powerful stab that saw the knight stumble backwards, vanishing in a burst of blue fire.

Dante looked around, but couldn't spot the black knight anywhere on the wall. Then he heard a whistle and snapped his gaze north and upward. There, standing on a higher portion of the castle, the black knight stood, hand held out.

_Come on._

Dante grinned and raced across the castle wall, jumping over the shattered portion and running up a section of the wall. The black knight had waited patiently, and a soon as Dante leapt onto the higher level, he raised his burning blade and charged in a powerful sweeping slash that Dante narrowly managed to jump over, firing another blast of buckshot that the knight deflected with the back of his blade. Dante landed and unsheathed Alastor, charging forward in a lightning charged stinger-

That the dark knight deflected, both of their swords knocked back in a thunderous clash of demonic steel.

The dark knight recovered first, slashing his huge zweihander down and then in an upper slash that sent Dante flying into the air and then brought it back down hard as the knight leapt into the air and slammed his sword down in a powerful blow, both hands on his blade and blue fire added for some extra pain.

Dante hit the ground hard, spitting blood, but he forced himself up, charging forward not with Alastor but with his shotgun, both barrels hitting the black knight in the chest-

And a muffled boom erupted against the knight's chest as Dante pulled the trigger, sending the knight careening back and dropping him to his knees, panting harshly.

Seeing his chance, Dante holstered his shotgun and drew Alastor. The devil hunter gripped Alastor's hilt with both hands and drew the blade up high, charging forward with a furious cry and bringing the blade down hard-

Only for the black knight leapt over the blade, twisting his huge body in midair, landing behind Dante.

Dante whirled around, blade raised-

Then kicked out of his hand by a greave covered in blue flames. Dante deflected the second kick with his elbow and the knight's follow up punch with a punch of his own, the blue fires surrounding the devil knight's fist feeling like ice instead of fire. The knight struck out with a straight punch right into Dante's chest and the devil hunter grunted, feeling a rib crack. Dante was off-guard as the black knight twisted, slamming his greave in a roundhouse kick that saw the devil hunter fly straight back into a wall and crumple in a dazed heap.

Dante couldn't get his bearings in time as the black knight stomped after him and snatched him up by his silver locks, shoving him against the stone wall and pinning him there with a hand of steel. Dante could only grip his adversary's hand with both of his own, unable to shake his grip, dizzy from the beating he had just gotten and blood lose from his wounds.

_Well…can't say I put dying at the hands of a demon dressed like a knight on the list of 'stupidest ways to go out',_ Dante mused internally, still choking for air as the black knight chuckled and sneered in his face, the dim of twilight making his orange eyes red.

Still, it had been a hell of a fight…

But the grip on his throat eased suddenly, the knight gasping lowly, head jerking as if in shock.

With a furious roar, the knight chucked Dante aside, sending him almost flying off the castle top, though a collapsed section of the wall saved Dante from a nasty fall. Choking for breath, Dante looked up at his opponent, watching him as the knight stood hunched over, groaning, streaks of blue lightning crackling around his legs. The knight stumbled backwards groaning loudly in agony as he clutched his horned helm, his body glowing brighter and brighter, becoming consumed by the blue fire and lightning before he roared in anguish, his massive form rising into the air, born aloft like a feather caught in a breeze.

Dante watched, panting and clutching his burning throat as the knight turned into a ball of blue fire and shot off, vanishing from sight.

The devil hunter rose up on shaky knees, still gasping.

"What…the hell… was that about?" He asked the empty air, unaware that his mother's amulet, a curious charm of silver with a red gem set in its center, had slipped out from where he had tucked it under his shirt, during the struggle, the gem catching the fading rays of sunlight and shining brightly.

* * *

Dante vs Nelo Angelo Round 1.

Winner: Nelo Angelo.

So, sanddrake111. Was that awesome enough for ya?

After the next chapter this novel will be going on hiatus to allow me the time I need to write the next five chapters.


	6. Chapter 5

_**Devil May Cry**_

_Chapter Five: Guiding of the Soul._

_Go to the destination before the power of the "Melancholy Soul" fades away._

* * *

Dante forced himself back on his feet, wincing as he continued to rub his tender throat. Though he never asked to be the son of a human and devil, Dante had to admit he was glad that came with the perks it did or else he would've been dead after the beating he had just gotten. Hell, he would've been dead a really long time ago if not for Sparda's blood in his veins.

He felt along the gashes and stabs where the black knight's blade had struck him, wincing when he found some cuts still remaining, sighing when he felt others had already healed. _Shit_, he thought, gripping the stone railing and leaping over it. _A nap in that bedroom sounds nice now,_ he considered, landing with a grunt and fumble, followed by a curse.

Then he frowned when he felt something bump against his chest. Glancing down, Dante finally saw that his mother's amulet had slipped out of his shirt, and rested on his shirt, the silver surface and red gem glinting in the sunlight He grabbed the amulet, holding it in his hand for and staring at it.

"Never forgive myself if I lost this," He whispered, tucking the precious item back under his collar. Dante wasn't a material possession kinda guy, but he had a few things he would never let himself part from. His swords, his guns, and this amulet.

He remembered a loooong time ago when a demon dressed like a rabbit had offered him a huge chunk of change for this amulet. But no amount of money in the world would ever see Dante part with this trinket-

"Gah!" Dante hissed, a burning sensation suddenly tearing through his already aching body, almost making him drop to his knees. Something scorching was inside his coat, and Dante frantically reached into his inside pocket, nearly dropping the burning item. His eyes widened when he saw it was the weird ball thing he had picked up only a few minutes ago, only the once dull surface was burning a bright orange and yellow, burning with a powerful intensity that seemed to travel through Dante's whole form.

"Ah crap," the devil hunter muttered, remembering a similar scenario he had found himself in back in the tower of hell with a haywire item that had tried to suck his soul out. Back then, said item had empowered him as something of a 'fair exchange'. But Dante only felt the heat from this thing getting more intense and no power flow into him from it but nor did he feel his strength wane just from holding it. It was just getting hotter and hotter the longer he held it.

"What the hell am I supposed to do with this thing?" He asked aloud, fingers gripping the burning item harshly. Then his eyes widened as he remembered the door at the bottom of the tower. There had been a hole just large enough for him to shove this thing in.

Though now something told Dante he'd better haul ass. The devil hunter shoved the burning ball back into his pocket and stood up, starting towards the castle wall. He had to scale them again to get back to the balcony and the bedroom-

A loud hiss reverberated across the courtyard. A familiar hiss. Dante sighed and turned around, looking up towards the doors.

A familiar shadowy feline was glaring at him with ruby eyes, non-existent fur bristling, the double doors behind it sealed behind all-too familiar screaming white skulls.

"I'm really not in the mood to play right now, kitty," Dante, right hand reaching for his shotgun as the devil cat screeched and jumped, body twisting into a double sided blade that spun towards Dante. The devil hunter ducked and rolled, firing as he rose back up, reloading and firing again as the shadow yowled in fury, melting into a pool of shadows and darting towards him at a blinding pace. Dante cursed, jumping out of the way as the shadow reformed into the giant fanged mouth, blasting it again and making it screech and jump back, hissing at him.

He could feel the orb burning more and more and Dante knew he didn't have time for this cat and mouse bullshit, pun not intended. He just kept firing, reloading, and firing again, dodging the rising spears, spinning blades and massive jaws, all the while waiting for the damn thing to die. Finally, it screeched and burst into shadows, revealing the glowing orb.

Drawing Alastor, Dante charged forward in a stinger that turned into a million stabs in an instant, jumping back as the shadow suddenly reformed, though its glowing core was still exposed. The demon feline hissed and screeched in agony and fury before exploding. Dante heard a faint hum and the sound of glass shattering. The doors were open.

Not sparing a second, he ran up the shattered wall and dashed across the keep, taking a flying leap and bouncing himself off the wall to get the highest spot before jumping back down a shattered hole, landing right in front of the doors. Shoving them open, he dashed through the bedroom and back into the tower. What he saw made him freeze.

"Aw, come on!" He exclaimed when he saw all the floating reapers, each brandishing a pair of oversized set of rusted scissors. Upon his exclamation, each floating reaper turned towards Dante, cackling madly and snapping their scissors in warning.

Having no time to waste, Dante jumped over the railing and plunged down, whipping out Ebony and Ivory as he fell and opening fire, dozens of bullets erupting from the handguns, each bullet landing between the eyes of the reapers, causing them to screech in agony. Dante hit the bottom floor hard, hard enough to make even him grunt and grit his jaw. He could feel the orb burning hotter than ever.

"Now or never!" He shouted, reaching into his pocket and yanking the object out as he rushed towards the door, shoving the burning ball into the hole that was the mouth of the door's engraving. A click echoed through the tower, the eyes of the beast flashing, just as the reaper devils reached the bottom floor, cackling and clicking their oversized clippers behind Dante.

The devil hunter grinned, a cool sweat breaking out over his pale skin, soothing the heat that had swept into him from the orb. "Now" he said, raising Ebony and Ivory, he turned and faced the devils, still grinning, ice blue eyes glinting in the faint light.

"Where were we?"

* * *

Shortest. Chapter. Ever.

But now this story goes on a temporary hiatus until I have the next five chapters written. Already started on chapter six, so...four and half to go.

Anyhoo, review response time:

sanddrake111: Remembered? You're the only one reviewing! Fight scenes...my forte.

Jimli: Correction. New reader. Seems like something Dante would do...though it doesn't move the story forward at all. Hope you keep commenting.

See you guys in...maybe a week? I dunno.


	7. Chapter 6

_**Devil May Cry**_

_Mission Six: Evil of the Waterways._

_Defeat the evil guardian and acquire the "Guiding Light"._

* * *

One last bullet caused a final scream to be ripped from the reaper's non-existent throat, and it shattered into ether, its rusted scissors spinning in the air before landing and shattering away as well. With that Dante gave Ebony and Ivory a spin before returning them to their holsters under his coat. He turned towards the newly unlocked door, his hand reaching for the handle-

When he heard the reaper's laughter, still echoing…

Even though none were left.

Glancing over his shoulder for moment, Dante returned his attention to the door and opened it, stepping into the darkness, saying as he did, "Guess I missed he joke." Then he heard a splash as his boots stepped into water…and something else, judging by the foul, vile odor that laced the air and filled his nose. The devil hunter's face scrunched up in disgust for a moment as he found himself in the lowest catacombs of the castle.

Also known as, the sewers.

"Ah, now I get it," Dante mumbled darkly, gingerly raising his boot up to eye whatever it was he had stepped in. Eyes narrowing in a cringe, he quickly lowered his boot back into the nasty water and looked around. Typical creepy narrow stone passageways, with some lamps glowing brightly from their perches on the walls, he was thankful for the illumination they gave at least.

There were two paths, left and right, with the path to his right leading to nothing but a dead end and some rubble piled up in one corner. The odds of something useful just lying atop the rubble was very unlikely, so Dante chose the left path, trudging his way through the disgusting sewage. As if his coat didn't get enough crap on, ranging from blood and other demonic guts and now sewage…

"Jeez, my cleaning bill's gonna be a nightmare when I get home…" Dante stopped just as he was rounding a corner, realization striking him.

"I'm not even getting paid for this!"

Here he was, on what was perhaps the most important mission of his entire life…

And he wasn't going to see a dime for all his efforts. Groaning a 'tch', Dante once more started to trudge through the sewage, muttering to himself as he did, "Now I get why heroes are always bitching in the comic books…"

He found himself in a large open area of the catacombs, with a blue door made of steel to his immediate right while ahead to his left was an open passage way. Deciding the open passage might be more interesting, Dante quickly made his way over and through the passage, turning once and making his way down a long corridor, turning again…

And finding a dead end with just a statue situated before him.

Blinking, Dante approached the statue, giving it a quick look over, but couldn't find any distinguishing features or items hidden any of its grooves. Then the devil hunter wondered if there was something _inside_ the statue. In one sudden and smooth motion, Dante drew Alastor and slashed the blade down hard, cleanly slicing the statue in half.

The upper portion slid with the sound of grinding stone and then a splash as it hit the murky sewer water. The still standing half revealed nothing in the exposed gap where the top part had once been.

Groaning a sigh of aggravation, Dante turned, sheathing Alastor back across his back, and made his back into the larger catacombs, mumbling under his breath, "I get the feeling there should be stuff hidden in these kinda spots…yet there isn't. So why do I feel like I'm getting ripped off?"

Arriving back in the much larger area, Dante looked at the steel door before glancing to his left, spotting the end of the passage, though he couldn't really tell what was down there yet. Deciding to save that for last, Dante trudged over to the door and tried the handle. Finding it unlocked, he opened it and stepped through, pulling it closed behind him.

Another wide open sewer, though this one had some lowered gates, and open sewer pipes…

Which explained why the smell was much stronger in here then it was out there. Almost gagging, Dante quickly looked around, his left hand over his nose, though it wasn't helping much. Plenty of lamps lined the walls, illuminating the room, and shedding some light in the dark mouths of the pipes…

Along with causing something in one of the farther ones to glint and glitter a faint bronze.

Wanting to get whatever it was and get out of this disgusting sewer as fast as possible, Dante drew Alastor and lunged forward, letting his stinger technique guiding him forward in a sudden streak of red, and when he lowered his blade, he found himself right next to the pipe with the glittering item. Surprise, surprise, another key. And a rather…gross looking one too.

Gingerly, Dante picked the key up by its edge, using only his fore and middle finger. It wasn't just rust covering it, he didn't need eyes to see that…the smell alone gave it away. "Though this does raise the question of why a key was flushed down a toilet…" Dante murmured to himself. He started to drop the key into his coat pocket but stopped just before he did. No way in all of Hell's layers would ever get a stain from this key out…or the smell. He liked this coat too much for that.

Key held on the tips of his fingers, Dante started back towards the door-

When a low-pitched hum began to fill the room. He stopped, eyes narrowing, cocking his head as he tried to pinpoint the location of the noise…

Then the darkened sewer pipes each suddenly began to glow with twin sets of glowing red orbs, the humming growing louder and louder. The shadows shifted-

And dozens of oversized bugs that looked like a cross between a house-fly and a cockroach, their carapaces color ranging from sea-foam green to shit brown, though they all had glowing red eyes, flew out of the pipes, their rapidly beating wings the source of the hum that became a soft roar of noise as they darted all around Dante.

The devil hunter merely watched them fly by him, icy eyes darting from one to the next. He had never seen demonic insects before, though he was unsurprised by their appearance. Dante wondered if these were natural bugs from the underworld or if they were once just normal roaches and flies that had become infected by the leaking demonic energies emitting from the island.

"Don't know, don't care," was his conclusion as one bug shot towards him, buzzing for his blood as it brandished its large pincers-

Said bug found itself without its bulbous head the next second as a thunderous boom echoed through the enclosed space, two spent shells falling from Dante's shotgun as he reloaded before firing again, the next blast of buckshot taking out two more overgrown bugs that got too close to him, their corpses falling with a splash into the puddle of nasty sewage on the floor. The devil hunter scowled in disgust as he watched several oversized maggots crawl out of the corpses and begin squirming away.

Making his way back towards the door, Dante calmly kept firing and reloading whenever one of the bugs flew too close for comfort. Lots of number, ugly looking and unnerving, but just as stupid as the marionettes. Aimlessly flying around wasn't much of an attack plan, especially against a half-demon with a sawed off shotgun.

One last load of buckshot saw the last overgrown roach-fly thing dead, and by that time the maggot population of this room had quadrupled. Dante slipped the shotgun back into the holster on his leg then reached for the door handle and opened it, stepping back out into the castle sewers. An all too familiar droning buzz filled the sewer, and all too familiar giant demon bugs crawled on the walls, through the sewage, and floated in the air on their wings. Sighing, Dante shook his head and shrugged.

"That's the thing I hate most 'bout bugs…just when you think you got 'em all, a dozen more show up."

With that the devil hunter tossed the key he held into the air and then in a blink of an eye he had Ebony and Ivory whipped out, muzzles flashing rapidly as he opened fire, arms crossed over, Ivory trained on the bugs to his left, Ebony on the ones to his right. Multiple demonic insects found their heads blown off, their guts splattered on the walls they had been crawling on and in the sewage they had been wading in. Unfortunately, there were a lot more out here then there had been in there. Several insects managed to dodge Ebony and Ivory's rapid fire through sheer luck, and they all made a beeline towards the devil hunter, buzzing angrily, eyes glowing brighter.

Just as they all reached him, Dante leapt up, twisting his body so he was hanging upside down and spun in midair, fingers squeezing the triggers of Ebony and Ivory again and again, faster than a human could, bullets hailing down on the unlucky insects, tearing them into shreds in a rainstorm of burning lead. Flipping in midair once again, Dante landed back on his feet with a small splash, twirled his guns a few times before returning them to their holsters under his coat before holding his right hand out and catching the rusty, smelly key as it completed its fall.

"Too easy."

With that, he trudged through the sewage, making his way towards the end of the passage, taking a left away from some iron bars and towards the single set of steel double doors. Dante didn't even try the handle, just slipped the key in and turned. The lock gave with a click and the key snapped in half. Tossing the useless broken half aside, grateful to be rid of the disgusting item, Dante pulled the door open and stepped into the new passage.

The new area looked exactly like the sewer he had just come from, only the lamps lining the walls glowed a bright orange, casting eerie glows across the walls. Dante glanced to his right, seeing a long tunnel ahead of him. Annoyed with these tunnels and his own slow pace when it came to getting through them, Dante reached for Alastor and let the lightning charged Devil Arm guide him forward through the tunnel in a single stinger, arriving right in front of the passage into the larger area. Looking down the new sewer, Dante spotted another small passage in the wall to his right.

Remembering the time he had wasted going down the one before, Dante let Alastor pull him forward in another stinger, before he finally reached the end of the tunnel. Returning the Devil Arm across his back, the devil hunter gave a quick look around, seeing something around the corner to his left, and a weird, horned skull was mounted on the wall to his right. Dante stared at the skull for a moment before starting for whatever was around that corner-

Two strange objects rose from the sewage in front of him, crackling with dark energy that shot out of them, forming a barrier of demonic energy beams, blocking the devil hunter off from his destination. Dante didn't need to turn around to see two more beams form a similar barrier behind him. Then he heard a familiar 'clank' of rusted blades clacking together, and a likewise familiar laugh accompanying the sound…

Though this laugh was much deeper and more evil sounding instead of the high-pitched chortling of the reapers.

Glancing over his shoulder, Dante stared up at the familiar black cloaked reaper, though this one had a few key differences compared to the dozen or so others he had been killing across this castle. For one, it was larger, both the reaper itself and its scissors. Second, its small head was hidden by a bloody looking horned animal's skull, the curved, goat like horns covered in fresh blood, while flames flickered around its bony hands. The reaper cackled darkly, clacking its scissors menacingly as it glared down on the devil hunter.

"Ya know, I don't mind sharing a joke between demons," Dante started, turning and facing the horned reaper, shotgun resting on his shoulder before he brandished it with a spin, leveling the double-barrels right at the creature's eyes. "But I really hate it when I know I'm being laughed at my expense." With that he pulled the triggers, sending a blast of buckshot straight towards the skull over its face.

The reaper merely laughed again, deep voice booming in the closed space as it swiftly floated back, sinking into the stone wall, scissors and all, the buckshot pellets striking the wall, a few embedding themselves there with the rest falling into the sewage. Dante spun the shotgun on his finger, spent shells falling away as he mused to himself, "Bigger and smarter than the other ones…Rare and bad combination." He took a chance to observe his surroundings, noting how enclosed the area he was trapped in between the dark beams.

"Not a lot to room to party…"

Behind him, the reaper slowly emerged from the wall Dante currently had his back too, rusted scissors spread open…

Dante continued to speak to himself.

"But still enough to get crazy."

With that the reaper lunged forward with a deep, guttural roar, scissors snapping closed through the devil hunter's neck-

Or rather the air where his neck had been as Dante leapt over the scissors at the last second, twisting his body and angling his shotgun to fire a blast right at the skull covering its real face. Buckshot pellets tore through bone, eliciting a howl of pain and rage from the horned reaper, the devil wildly swinging its scissors out in blinded fury. Dante shoved out with his left hand, striking the scissors and using the momentum to both deflect the attack and propel himself back, letting his body go limp as he landed back on the floor with a splash. Grinning up at the reaper, Dante taunted, "That all ya got?"

The devil snarled, floating towards Dante, scissors drawn back to impale the devil hunter-

But Dante suddenly began to spin his shotgun around his body, passing the weapon between his hands in a series of spins over and under his shoulders and arms, each twirl of the gun pulling the hair-trigger and sending a blast of buckshot at the reaper devil who was forced back as several shots struck it again and again, the reaper howling pain as more of its skull helm was blasted away, revealing more of that glowing dark red energy. The devil snarled and began rapidly floating backwards, once more melting through the wall, well out of the range of his shotgun's blasts.

Giving the double barrel one last twirl, Dante slipped the shotgun back into his leg holster, beginning to look all the walls over. He could feel the reaper's demonic power traveling behind them, and he wondered if the thing was stupid enough to try a sneak attack on him. He heard metal scrape over stone and in a heartbeat had his shotgun back out, pointed at the wall directly behind him.

Stillness for several seconds.

Dante narrowed his icy eyes as nothing continued to happen.

"Did I miss something?"

And then from the wall he had just turned his back on, out came the reaper, its whole form spinning in a flurry of black rags, long rusted blades extended out, becoming a drill of death as it shot towards Dante. The devil hunter's eyes widened and he ducked and rolled, narrowly avoiding the oncoming impalement, rising back up and cringing from disgust as he felt the sewage covering him from head to toe now. He watched the spinning devil vanish behind the walls again and quickly rose back up, shotgun at the ready.

Unfortunately, Dante wasn't as ready when the still spinning devil erupted from the floor under him, tearing through his shoulder in a spray of blood. Crying out sharply, Dante clutched he wound for a moment before quickly righting himself and catching the tail end of the reaper's cloak with a blast of buckshot pellets, though the rest embedded themselves in the ceiling, doing no damage to the demon. Cursing under his breath, Dante eyed the shotgun before once more slipping it back into its holster, murmuring "Too slow."

The devil hunter waded through the sewage until he stood directly in the center of the reaper's trapped off space, arms crossing as he waited.

He wasn't waiting long.

The reaper shot out of the wall behind him like Dante predicted, body still spinning with its scissors thrust out.

Just as the devil was about to run the devil hunter through his back, sever his spine, pierce his heart and lungs while tearing them into bloody shreds, Dante's right hand reached over his shoulder, gripping Alastor's sparking hilt and he whirled around, bringing the Devil Arm up in a sudden rising slash, the demonic blade colliding with the oversized scissors, deflecting them and stopping the reaper's spinning, throwing it off balance. Not letting up, Dante tore into the beast with Alastor, streams of purple lightning following each stroke of the blade, causing the devil to roar in pain as more of the skull atop its head broke away, revealing more and more of that red demonic energy.

With one final slash the reaper bellowed in agony, its form shattering away into black clothes and streams of demonic power, the scissors spinning into the air. Dante sheathed Alastor across his back while stepping back slowly, watching the oversized weapon impale into the floor before him, shattering a split-second after. As soon as the last of the reaper faded away, the dark blue streams trapping Dante in the enclosed corner faded away.

Scoffing under his breath, Dante turned and made his way around the corner, muttering to himself as he did, "That's the problem with most demons. All substance, no style." He rounded the corner, finding not a new tunnel, but a small alter with something lying on it, wavy lines surrounding it, the four torchlights surrounding it completing the illusion of a luminescent sun. Dante moved closer towards the alter, eager to grab his prize.

* * *

Pretty soon this novel will really start picking up after the next two chapters, cause Dante will finally be out of the castle. That's when things get fun...

Review Response:

sanddrake111: I recommend the HD collection if you have a PS3 or 360.

Jimli: Glad to know, continued support is a great motivator.

Culebra del Sol: Thank you, hope to hear more from you.

See ya next chapter.


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